Posted on 06/13/2014 6:06:30 AM PDT by KeyLargo
U.S. pushing local cops to stay mum on cellular surveillance
Thu, 06/12/2014 Sun-Times wires
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has been quietly advising local police not to disclose details about surveillance technology they are using to sweep up basic cellphone data from entire neighborhoods, The Associated Press has learned.
Citing security reasons, the U.S. has intervened in routine state public records cases and criminal trials regarding use of the technology. This has resulted in police departments withholding materials or heavily censoring documents in rare instances when they disclose any about the purchase and use of such powerful surveillance equipment.
Federal involvement in local open records proceedings is unusual. It comes at a time when President Barack Obama has said he welcomes a debate on government surveillance and called for more transparency about spying in the wake of disclosures about classified federal surveillance programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.suntimes.com ...
I hate this government.
F U B O! and your ilk!
Law enforcement agencies claim that their contract with the private company that makes the stingray devices prevents disclosure of their use.
“Defend and uphold” invalidated by private contract? The lawsuits cannot come too soon.
Looks like someone needs to build phones with randomly variable signal strength. Directional tracking would still work, but if the phone is randomly jumping between 100mW and 1 Watt then distance tracking won’t work as well.
If you’re not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about..........right?
Use of stingray by local cops in even medium-sized cities is far, far more common than people realize and it is part of the reason why cops do not value anymore the support of the people they supposedly protect.
Local cops no longer depend as much on townsfolk for street intel and their attitude and force posture reflects that recent technical change.
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