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'Stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash
WSJ ^ | 22 Sept 2011 | JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES

Posted on 09/22/2011 8:21:28 AM PDT by Palter

For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply "the Hacker." Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were they able to zero in on a California home and make the arrest.

Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it's not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries.

A stingray's role in nabbing the alleged "Hacker"—Daniel David Rigmaiden—is shaping up as a possible test of the legal standards for using these devices in investigations. The FBI says it obtains appropriate court approval to use the device.

Stingrays are one of several new technologies used by law enforcement to track people's locations, often without a search warrant. These techniques are driving a constitutional debate about whether the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, but which was written before the digital age, is keeping pace with the times.

On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether or not police need a warrant before secretly installing a GPS device on a suspect's car and tracking him for an extended period. In both the Senate and House, new bills would require a warrant before tracking a cellphone's location.

And on Thursday in U.S. District Court of Arizona, Judge David G. Campbell is set to hear a request by Mr. Rigmaiden, who is facing fraud charges, to have information about the government's secret techniques disclosed to him so he can use it in his defense.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: cellphone; constitution; fbi; fourthamendment; gps; gpstracking; lping; nihilism; policestate; rapeofliberty; supremecourt; tracking; warrant; warrantlesssearch
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1 posted on 09/22/2011 8:21:34 AM PDT by Palter
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To: Travis McGee

Ping.


2 posted on 09/22/2011 8:24:20 AM PDT by marktwain (In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: Palter

Sux2bhim


3 posted on 09/22/2011 8:26:18 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Palter

When left to its own, gov’t naturall transforms into an abusive entity.


4 posted on 09/22/2011 8:27:36 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi
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To: Palter

Take the battery out when not in use.


5 posted on 09/22/2011 8:29:05 AM PDT by dartuser ("If you are ... what you were ... then you're not.")
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To: Palter
you can run BUT...

Now just wait until this gets mainstreamed/hacked to the point where it's on the street.

Then life will sure be a b(tch for the rest of us.

6 posted on 09/22/2011 8:45:19 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (...then they came for the guitars, and we kicked their sorry faggot asses into the dust)
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To: amzgirl; 75thOVI; Ravenstar; June2; LuvFreeRepublic; AdvisorB; 88keys; Matchett-PI; mcmuffin; ...
Mother Harris ping sting

Brevard County, Florida ping list.

Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)


7 posted on 09/22/2011 8:48:24 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (So much stress was put on Bush's Fault that it finally let go, magnitude 6)
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To: Palter

You can’t erase the evidence of what you are doing, how it works, what it captured and then deliver the results for discovery.

You have to present the entire chain or it’s invalid.

Now, I’ll go read the article.


8 posted on 09/22/2011 8:56:01 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Palter

OnStar.
Cell phone triangulation during calls.
Cell phone triangulation when not on active call.

All can be used to track you.

Now.... are our politicians/lawmakers concerned about the tracking of the average JOE ?

NO. What they are really worried about is whether THEY can be tracked when they go to Madam DeFarge’s House of Ill-Repute.


9 posted on 09/22/2011 9:32:38 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: the invisib1e hand
Now just wait until this gets mainstreamed/hacked to the point where it's on the street. Then life will sure be a b(tch for the rest of us.

Or, it could be one of the best selling devices on the market.

I can't count the number of times my friends have LOST their cell phone, or had it stolen (even by supposed 'friends').

How nice to be able to quickly recover your lost phone.

10 posted on 09/22/2011 9:35:44 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: UCANSEE2
How nice to be able to quickly recover your lost phone.

You're being facetious, right? Cause if not, I'm going to nominate that for the Myopic Post of the New Millenium Award.

11 posted on 09/22/2011 9:37:54 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (...then they came for the guitars, and we kicked their sorry faggot asses into the dust)
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To: NonValueAdded

Thanks....


12 posted on 09/22/2011 9:38:55 AM PDT by Guenevere (....)
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To: dartuser

Just turning it off won’t work?


13 posted on 09/22/2011 9:39:11 AM PDT by Dick Holmes
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To: dartuser

Ever try to take a battery out of an iPhone or Android or other modern smart phone? The covers don’t just slide off like older (>one year) phones.


14 posted on 09/22/2011 9:57:56 AM PDT by SW6906 (6 things you can't have too much of: sex, money, firewood, horsepower, guns and ammunition.)
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To: Dick Holmes

No.


15 posted on 09/22/2011 10:17:11 AM PDT by dartuser ("If you are ... what you were ... then you're not.")
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To: dartuser
Take the battery out when not in use.

Stingray actually works with the battery removed. A focused microwave beam powers the phone briefly and then Stingray does it's job.

16 posted on 09/22/2011 10:21:00 AM PDT by Lazamataz
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To: Lazamataz
A focused microwave beam ...

You have to know where the phone is to focus a beam ...

17 posted on 09/22/2011 10:23:37 AM PDT by dartuser ("If you are ... what you were ... then you're not.")
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To: dartuser
You have to know where the phone is to focus a beam ...

Simple. Just beam a beam right near the suspect's hip.

18 posted on 09/22/2011 10:26:11 AM PDT by Lazamataz
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To: SW6906

have yet to see a droid with out a no tools way to remove the battery..


19 posted on 09/22/2011 10:27:11 AM PDT by cableguymn
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To: SW6906

I find I have to do this with the company Blackberry I have. Often times, it will come back on for no apparent reason. I have to physically take out the battery to be sure that it’s off.


20 posted on 09/22/2011 10:29:11 AM PDT by filospinato
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