October 19, 2014

DC police using unconstitutional spy device, may be spying on Congress

Jason Leopold, Vice-     Back in 2003, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC was awarded a $260,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to purchase surveillance technology called Stingray — a contraption the size of a suitcase that simulates a cell phone tower and intercepts mobile phone calls and text messages.

The rationale behind the DHS grant to MPD and other law enforcement agencies was to help them secure new antiterrorism technology from private corporations. But the grant fell a little short, because the MPD couldn’t come up with the extra several thousands dollars it needed to train officers how to use and maintain Stingray — so the device sat unused in an “Electronic Surveillance Unit equipment vault” at the department for more than five years.

In 2008, the DC police decided to dust off and upgrade its Stingray tracking device after the department secured another federal grant. But officials appeared to no longer see it as a way to combat terrorism, fears of which had decreased significantly since 2003. Instead, they sought to use it for routine investigations involving drug trafficking and common criminals.

The details of the MPD’s use of Stingray have been shrouded in secrecy. Although there was suspicion the department was utilizing the technology, documentary evidence to support the notion never surfaced.

But through an open records request, VICE News obtained dozens of pages of purchase orders, invoices, and memos between the DC police department and Harris Corporation, the Florida-based company that manufactures Stingray, which confirms for the first time the technology is in use in DC....


The ACLU has heavily scrutinized law enforcement agencies’ use of Stingray devices over the past year, arguing that Stingrays seriously encroach on individual privacy rights: “When its used to track a suspect’s cell phone, [it] also gather[s] information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to be nearby.”

In an op-ed published last June, Nathan Wessler, an attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, said Stingrays were “initially the domain of the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies,” but that the use of the tracking device has now “trickled down to federal, state, and local law enforcement.”

To date, the ACLU has identified 44 law enforcement agencies in 18 states that use Stingrays. According to Wessler, what’s unique about the use of Stingrays in Washington, DC compared with their use in Sacramento, California or Tallahassee, Florida is the type of communications that are being swept up.

As Wessler told VICE News:
An inherent attribute of how this technology functions is that it sweeps in information about large numbers of innocent bystanders even when police are trying to track the location of a particular suspect. If the MPD is driving around DC with Stingray devices, it is likely capturing information about the locations and movements of members of Congress, cabinet members, federal law enforcement agents, and Homeland Security personnel, consular staff, and foreign dignitaries, and all of the other people who congregate in the District…. If cell phone calls of congressional staff, White House aides, or even members of Congress are being disconnected, dropped, or blocked by MPD Stingrays, that’s a particularly sensitive and troublesome problem.

Wessler said the Fourth Amendment rights of tens of thousands of DC residents are likely violated whenever DC police uses Stingray, which sends out a more powerful signal than a cell tower and forces all mobile devices to report back serial numbers and locations.

“It is very accurate when trying to track locations,” Wessler said.

The memo from the commander of the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division says the intelligence police gather through the use of Stingray “can readily be shared between MPD and our Team DC Federal partners (FBI, DEA, ICE, U.S. Marshals Service, United States Attorney’s Office) as well as our neighboring state and local law enforcement agencies.”

“Upon request, this equipment can also be used to assist these agencies with the location and apprehension of any of their targeted offenders,” the memo said.

1 comment:

Merle from Michigan said...

Pro Rev, you are always on the ball. I appreciate your segment every week on Make It Plain! Keep up the great work!