LEAKED: The secret catalog American law enforcement orders cellphone-spying gear

Boing Boing ^ | Dec 17, 2015 | Cory Doctorow

[walford]

The Intercept has obtained a secret government catalog that law enforcement agencies use to source even-more-secret cellular spying devices, mostly variants on the Stingray/Dirtbox, which pretend to be cellular towers in order to harvest the subscriber details of all the people within range (up to an entire city, for the airplane-mounted Dirtboxes).

The catalog details the capabilities and costs of the different devices in use in at least 60 law enforcement agencies in the US, most of whom will not admit to owning them (this can go to absurd lengths, such as lying in court, or police-on-police raids to confiscate evidence before it is brought to trial).

The catalog also lists the (sometimes eye-popping) price for these devices. Though some of these devices are paid for with civil forfeiture funds stolen from random citizens, they're more often bought with DHS anti-terror grants. <>I was most interested in the NSA's own-brand $175,800 Typhoon, a 20-lb, airplane-mounted surveillance device that harvests data from GSM phones within a 30+ km range.

The National Security Agency designed this little number itself, cutting out the usual corporate middleman. With an airborne broadcast range of 30 kilometers in rural areas and 5 kilometers in urban ones, the Typhon is sure to capture data from thousands of bystanders’ phones. But buyer beware: This snooping device only captures data from GSM phones, meaning it’s good to go in most of the world, but won’t work on Sprint, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular phones in the United States. For those, check out the airplane-ready cell-site simulators from Boeing Co.’s subsidiary DRT.

The Typhoon is used as a GSM airborne geo-location system to replicate a GSM network Base Station. They operate by attracting and registering handsets operating on the local commercial network. Each handset's IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) or IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) is compared against the target watch list. When a targeted handset is identified and registered to the box, a geo-location solution is calculated. Typhoon was specifically designed and built for geo-location missions in fixed wing aircraft (manned/unmanned).

A Secret Catalogue of Government Gear for Spying on Your Cellphone

[walford]

It is curious that the government is not willing to protect us or empower us to protect ourselves, but continues to find means to monitor us -- without warrant.

[Black Agnes]

The whole purpose behind the immigration act of 1965 was the eventual ‘need’ to monitor everything we do in the name of keeping us safe.

[day10]

So is it “Typhon” or “Typhoon”?

[Red Badger]

TYPHON:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhon

was the most fearsome monster of Greek mythology. The last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, Typhon was, with his mate Echidna, the father of many famous monsters.

[bert]

why do you think a warrant is required to monitor free to air radio signals?

[sauropod]

Study

[Red Badger]

Apropos,eh?......................

[Red Badger]

I don’t mind if the government monitors or even records ALL calls and other communications originating OUTSIDE the US or even calls to other countries originating INSIDE the US. That would be constitutionally allowed, IMHO.............

[Black Agnes]

But that’s not what they’re doing is it...

[Red Badger]

You are correct, but who’s gonna stop them?.....................

[Black Agnes]

Excellent question.

[Cboldt]

-- but who's gonna stop them?..... --

Nobody. Once a generation or so, there is a jaw-dropping Congressional hearing, followed by do-nothing legislation, followed by claims of "we're protecting privacy." This goes back to the time the telephone was put into wide use.

The Congressional hearings and "tough action" are no more than a ruse. The government operates actively and clandestinely against its citizens, while claiming the exact opposite. That's probably as old as governments. All that's really changed is the technology.

"Picking a side" also follows principles of human nature. The government/thug side has more money, more power, and more perks. it attracts the dishonest and the bullies, who band together to fleece the weak and gullible.

[walford]

“why do you think a warrant is required to monitor free to air radio signals?”

---

A warrant is needed to monitor private wireline communications and wireless is — or should be — the same.

Prior to 9/11, a warrant was needed to tap each phone line that an individual might be using. The law was changed so one warrant would cover the same individual no matter which communication device he’s using. That is reasonable.

I understand that it would be convenient, and possibly reduce crime, if law enforcement could kick down any door, search any individual or intercept any communication upon mere suspicion, rather than requiring the LEO to convince a judge that there is sufficient evidence to permit a search or interception of private communications.

But a small technicality called the 4th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits this sort of thing.

[Malsua]

I still don’t understand why there isn’t a cell tower app that learns about cell towers in your area and thereafter prompts you if a new one appears.

While it seems like only a criminal would use such an app, there are certainly a bunch of Russian, Chinese and others doing this to spy on us.

In fact, part of the app could have a database of known, valid towers in the area and refuse to connect to unknown towers, rendering stingray or other spying devices useless.

[G Larry]

I was all set to establish a go-fund-me account for the $176K Typhon device, when I remembered:

-I don’t know anybody with a GSM phone
-I don’t have an airplane or a drone
-I don’t know anybody I’d like to monitor....except in W.D.C....

[null and void]

But a small technicality called the 4th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits this sort of thing.

For now.

[walford]

If you know anyone who us using AT&T, T-Mobile or the other carriers listed as such in the link below, you do indeed know someone who is on GSM.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless_communications_service_providers

[bert]

the signal is not contained within a wire, it is wireless..... free to air

if you want privacy, do not broadcast your signal

your phone is not a phone, it is a radio transmitter

[Roman_War_Criminal]

We’re a police state right now.

The gov’t doesn’t care nor want to protect us anymore.

It’s about them maintaining their power of everybody and eventually choking the life out of the whole system.

[Cboldt]

-- But a small technicality called the 4th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits this sort of thing. --

There is no remedy for infringement, beyond exclusion of evidence in a criminal trial, and even that depends on finding the right judge.

All sorts of things are prohibited to the federal government by the constitution, but the legislature and executive have managed to get around the limitations by enlisting the assistance of their fellow travelers in the courts.