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Stingray use in United States law enforcement

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The use of Stingrays by United States law enforcement is an investigative technique used by both federal and local law enforcement in the United States to obtain information from cell phones by mimicking a cell phone tower. The devices which accomplish this are generically known as IMSI-catchers, but are commonly called Stingrays, a brand sold by the Harris Corporation.

History

The United States Federal government has access to stingray-type technology since at least 1995.[1] The Baltimore Police Department began using the devices in 2007.[2] The New York City Police Department has used the devices since 2008.[3]

Initially, the use of Stingray phone trackers was a secret, due to a number of non-disclosure agreements between individual police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[4] According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the FBI entered into agreements with at least 48 police departments in the United States. In these agreements, the FBI allowed police departments to use the stingrays, while requiring police departments provide no information to either the public or the courts regarding the devices' operation or existence.[5][6]

In December of 2012, the Electronic Privacy Information Center released documents which show the United States Department of Justice discussing the use of cell phone tracking equipment, including addressing unlawful interference concerns.[7] More info on Stingrays was obtained in March 2013, when the American Civil Liberties Union released documents it obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.[8] Stingray devices have been used in a variety of criminal investigations, from murder and kidnapping to misdemeanor theft.[9]

The way law enforcement uses of stingrays has been criticized by a number of civil liberties groups, who have filed lawsuits against current practices.[3]

Compared to other large cities, like Boston, New York City and San Diego, Baltimore, Maryland has a much higher use of stingrays.[10] According a member of the Baltimore Police Department, the agency used stingrays 4,300 times since 2007.[2]

Federal government

The official position of the US Federal government is that the use of Stingrays does not require a probable cause warrant, because they claim Stingrays are a kind of pen register tap, which do not require a warrant, as decided in Smith v. Maryland.[11] The government notes that they do not intercept the actual conversation, only tracking identity of the phone and its location. The devices do have the technical capability to record the content of calls, so the government requires these content-intercepting functions to be disabled in normal use.[12] In September of 2015, the US Justice Department issued new guidelines requiring federal agents to obtain warrants before using stingray devices, except in exigent circumstances.[3]

State governments

In 2015, the state of Virginia passed a law requiring the use of a warrant when using a stingray, and Washington state proposed a similar law.[13] In addition, California, Minnesota and Utah have also passed laws requiring warrants for stingray use.[14]

In 2011, in the case of Daniel David Rigmaiden in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, the chief of the FBI Tracking Technology Unit wrote an affidavit defending the use of an unspecified pen register device. Information about the model or function was purposefully withheld, citing FBI policy; the letter assured the court that the device was legally compliant.[15] A widely-cited[16][17][18][19] story released by the Wall Street Journal described the device was described as a "stingray", along with basic information about how it worked.[20] Much of the info on Stingray devices was provided by Ringmaiden himself, who looked for how authorities had discovered he was committing tax fraud.[21][22]

In January 2016, in the case of United States v. Damian Patrick, a lawsuit filed in 2013, reached the 7th circuit court of appeals.[23]

In April 2016, in the trial of Robert Copes, a circuit judge in Baltimore suppressed evidence collected using a stingray, saying the police were missing an necessary search warrant.[4]

Also in April 2016, an attempted murder suspect, Kerron Andrews, filed a lawsuit alleging that the police's use of a stingray was an illegal search without a warrant.[24] A Maryland appeals ruled in his favor, upholding the decision made in a lower court.[25][26]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ryan Gallagher (15 Feb 2013). "FBI Files Unlock History Behind Clandestine Cellphone Tracking Tool". Slate. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  2. ^ a b Justin Fenton (9 Apr 2015). "Baltimore Police used secret technology to track cellphones in thousands of cases". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  3. ^ a b c JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN (11 Feb 2016). "New York Police Are Using Covert Cellphone Trackers, Civil Liberties Group Says". New York Times. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  4. ^ a b Justin Fenton (25 Apr 2016). "Key evidence in city murder case tossed due to stingray use". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  5. ^ Jessica Glenza, Nicky Woolf (10 Apr 2015). "Stingray spying: FBI's secret deal with police hides phone dragnet from courts". The Gaurdian. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  6. ^ Kim Zetter (4 Mar 2014). "Police Contract With Spy Tool Maker Prohibits Talking About Device's Use". Wired. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  7. ^ Ryan Gallagher (10 Jan 2013). "FBI Documents Shine Light on Clandestine Cellphone Tracking Tool". Slate. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  8. ^ Ellen Nakashima (27 Mar 2013). "Little-known surveillance tool raises concerns by judges, privacy activists". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  9. ^ Brad Heath (24 Aug 2015). "Police secretly track cellphones to solve routine crimes". USA Today. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  10. ^ Brian Barrett (16 Aug 2016). "The Baltimore PD's Race Bias Extends to High-Tech Spying, Too". Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  11. ^ Kim Zetter (19 Jun 2014). "Emails Show Feds Asking Florida Cops to Deceive Judges". Wired. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  12. ^ Kim Zette (28 Oct 2015). "Turns Out Police Stingray Spy Tools Can Indeed Record Calls". Wired. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  13. ^ Joshua Brustein (24 Mar 2015). "State Laws Start Catching Up to Police Phone Spying". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
  14. ^ Cyrus Farivar (26 Apr 2016). "Judge rules in favor of "likely guilty" murder suspect found via stingray". Ars Technica. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  15. ^ Kim Zetter (3 Nov 2011). "Feds' Use of Fake Cell Tower: Did it Constitute a Search?". Wired. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  16. ^ Adrian Covert (23 Sep 2011). "The StingRay Is The Virtually Unknown Device the Government Uses to Track You Through Your Phone". Gizmodo. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  17. ^ Buck Sexton (23 Sep 2011). "Should Law Enforcement's 'Stingray' System Track You Without a Search Warrant?". The Blaze. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  18. ^ Mike Masnick (27 Sep 2011). "Details Emerging On Stingray Technology, Allowing Feds To Locate People By Pretending To Be Cell Towers". Tech Dirt. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  19. ^ InstantJoseph (4 Nov 2011). "The Stingray: the cellphone tracker the government won't talk about". The Verge. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  20. ^ Jennifer Valentino-DeVries (22 Sep 2011). "'Stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 17 Aug 2016.
  21. ^ Cory Doctorow (14 Jan 2016). "How an obsessive jailhouse lawyer revealed the existence of Stingray surveillance devices". BoingBoing. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  22. ^ Cale Guthrie Weissman (19 Jun 2015). "How an obsessive recluse blew the lid off the secret technology authorities use to spy on people's cellphones". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  23. ^ Cyrus Farivar (29 Jan 2016). "Warrantless stingray case finally arrives before federal appellate judges". Ars Technica. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  24. ^ David Collins (15 Apr 2016). "Baltimore police sued over cellphone tracking". WBAL-TV. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  25. ^ Alex Emmons (31 Mar 2016). "Maryland Appellate Court Rebukes Police for Concealing Use of Stingrays". The Intercept. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  26. ^ Kim Zetter (6 Apr 2016). "Spy Tool Ruling Inches the Stingray Debate Closer to the Supreme Court". Wired. Retrieved 16 Aug 2016.
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