As with many other data surveillance practices, these devices actually collect data from all the mobile devices they can reach, not just the target of a legitimate police investigation. Sure, the cops can discard the other data, and if they obtain a warrant to use the device, the judge may require that they do so. But what if there is no warrant?
This form of surveillance may even violate your Constitutional rights under the 4th Amendment. That amendment reads:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Why wouldn’t police just obtain a warrant? Because the FBI forces police departments to sign non-disclosure agreements if they wish to use a Stingray.
For example, according to an April article published by Wired, the warrant-less use of Stingrays in New York is not unheard of:
The department was told to withhold information about the devices in any documents filed with courts, such as affidavits and other documents describing how they obtained evidence in criminal cases. The department was even told that the FBI maintained the right to intervene in county prosecutions to request criminal cases be dismissed if there was a chance that a case might result in the disclosure of information about law enforcement’s use of stingrays.
Since these devices collect a mass of data from many devices within their range, law enforcement would necessarily be spying on a whole section of the community, rifling through their private data, not just that of the target specified in the warrant.
This trickle-down of technology from national spy agencies, who certainly don’t have a spotless record when it comes to following the rules, is accompanied by a public that has become desensitized to routine invasions of privacy by the people we pay to protect us.
Source: Wired
Photo: Genelgundem
