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New Illinois Law Limits Police Use Of Cellphone-Tracking Stingray (go.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes a report from ABC News:
A new Illinois law limits how police can use devices that cast a wide net in gathering cellphone data... [Stingray] gathers phone-usage data on targets of criminal investigations, but it also gathers data on other cellphones -- hundreds or even thousands of them -- in the area. The new law requires police to delete the phone information of anyone who wasn't an investigation target within 24 hours. It also prohibits police from accessing data for use in an investigation not authorized by a judge.
A dozen other states have adopted such regulations, and Congress is considering legislation that would strengthen federal guidelines already in place... Privacy advocates worry that without limits on how much data can be gathered or how long it can be stored, law enforcement could use the technology to build databases that track the behavior and movement of people who are not part of criminal investigations.
Earlier this month a U.S. judge threw out evidence gathered with Stingray for the first time, saying that without a search warrant, "the government may not turn a citizen's cell phone into a tracking device." The ACLU has identified 66 agencies in 24 states using Stingray technology, "but because many agencies continue to shroud their purchase and use of stingrays in secrecy, this map dramatically underrepresents the actual use of stingrays by law enforcement agencies nationwide."
A dozen other states have adopted such regulations, and Congress is considering legislation that would strengthen federal guidelines already in place... Privacy advocates worry that without limits on how much data can be gathered or how long it can be stored, law enforcement could use the technology to build databases that track the behavior and movement of people who are not part of criminal investigations.
Earlier this month a U.S. judge threw out evidence gathered with Stingray for the first time, saying that without a search warrant, "the government may not turn a citizen's cell phone into a tracking device." The ACLU has identified 66 agencies in 24 states using Stingray technology, "but because many agencies continue to shroud their purchase and use of stingrays in secrecy, this map dramatically underrepresents the actual use of stingrays by law enforcement agencies nationwide."
is there is absolutely no control over the use of these products. Once any information is obtained, intelligent agencies just use parallel construction or other methods to convict someone. Had they not had access to the use of these devices, surely many many prosecutions would be impossible or alleged crimes unknown.
Cop having these devices are like foxes guarding hens.
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They are scared the courts will outlaw them completely. Or simply wait until they have a long list of cases done without a warrant, and then the court says "no warrant, no conviction".
So the politicians decide they would set up a bunch of rules pre-empting a judicial censure of the police.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Said no intelligence, police, or government agency ever.
But they all say it. It's getting them to actually DO it that's the hard part.
..called AIMSICD. It alerts you to when you're possibly connecting to a fake cell tower, and can be configured to instantly disable the phone radios if that happens. I've tried it, but no idea if it works as claimed since I'm not in the US.
"..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."