Probable Cause Is So 1789
That's the date James Madison introduced the Fourth Amendment in Congress.
The Tacoma police are having none of that. Merely existing with your cellphone in use is enough to get swept up in their giant data suck.
Kate Martin writes in the Tacoma News-Tribune:
The Tacoma Police Department apparently has bought -- and quietly used for six years -- controversial surveillance equipment that can sweep up records of every cellphone call, text message and data transfer up to a half a mile away.You don't have to be a criminal to be caught in this law enforcement snare. You just have to be near one and use a cellphone.
Known as Stingray, the device -- small enough to be carried in a car -- tricks cellphones into thinking it's a cell tower and draws in their information.
News that the city was using the surveillance equipment surprised City Council members, who approved an update for a device last year, and prosecutors, defense attorneys and even judges, who in court deal with evidence gathered using the surveillance equipment.
...The devices are indiscriminate in the information they collect, and that bothers civil libertarians.
"They are essentially searching the homes of innocent Americans to find one phone used by one person," said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist with the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. "It's like they're kicking down the doors of 50 homes and searching 50 homes because they don't know where the bad guy is."
City Manager T.C. Broadnax said he does not know the specifics of what the police department bought. But he believes the department "adequately briefed the City Council on the particulars of what we were buying and how and when they would use it under certain circumstances."
"I'm not in law enforcement, but it's my impression that it assists them in doing their job more effectively, and that's to protect the public," Broadnax said.
Newsflash, Buttnax -- you don't protect the public by yanking away civil liberties.
They use them in Sarasota FL, and two really neat (or terrifying) things:
1. Information obtained using the things is reported as being from 'confidential informants' in the official record, guess why. Several courts have said this is okay.
2. https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/aclu-florida-v-city-sarasota-stingray-cell-phone-tracking
The records they were supposed to get were seized hours before they arrived at the courthouse by Federal Marshals under the guise of 'national security' . . .
drcos at August 28, 2014 3:27 AM
The only way is a lawsuit. I recommend a good dose of Katz and Kyllo to bring these rogue department to heel, no matter how much money Homeland(gag) Security throws at them.
Canvasback at August 28, 2014 8:29 AM
well, I suppose if the dragnet is so broad... then standing to sue would be anyone with a cell phone. The discovery should be Interesting.
SwissArmyD at August 28, 2014 9:49 AM
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