USA - LAPD & Chicago PD - Militarised Police - Dirtbox (Fake Cell Phone Tower) Decade-long Dragnet Surveillance - Challenged by Civil Liberties Groups

LAPD Has Had “Stingray on Steroids” Surveillance Equipment for a Decade Back to News submit to reddit Wednesday, August 12, 2015 An older version of seldom-seen "dirtbox" Secret Stingray cellphone surveillance technology, deployed by police departments without warrants across the country, gets all the publicity. But the real deal is “Stingray on steroids” technology called “dirtbox” and The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) says cops in Los Angeles and Chicago have had it for a decade. Like Stingray, the device mimics cellphone towers to connect and monitor mobile devices. But dirtbox can monitor multiple signals at a time, breaking encryption as it goes, sweeping up data in a dragnet whose scale is unknown beyond its users. Devices like dirtbox were first developed for the military and intelligence agencies. Digital Research Technology, Inc. (DRT), purchased by giant defense contractor Boeing in 2008, started as Utica Systems in 1980, manufacturing devices for the “communications surveillance community.” Dirtboxes are popular among the U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. And documents obtained by Edward Snowden indicate they are used extensively by U.S. spy agencies. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) purchased the equipment in 2005 with a $260,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to CIR. Chicago purchased theirs with money gleaned from asset forfeiture cases. Both cities also deploy Stingrays. The accelerated militarization of local police since 9/11 has contributed to the widespread use of cell-site stimulator technology by local cops. An estimated 40 or 50 agencies use Stingrays, but there is no way to get an accurate count. Law enforcement agencies sign nondisclosure agreements with the manufacturer, Harris Corporation, which they are loathe to talk about, making court oversight problematic. It also doesn't help that the Obama administration has been advising local authorities to obscure use of the surveillance, which they have done. Prosecutors have dropped cases before releasing Stingray information. Dirtboxes have flown even more under the radar than Stingrays. CIR said its report on Chicago and Los Angeles was the first to reveal use of the technology by domestic law enforcement. LAPD refused to produce documents requested in February through the California Public Records Act. The Wall Street Journal wrote last December about the U.S. Marshals Service regularly flying dirtboxes around in Cessnas in at least five metropolitan areas. That kind of mass surveillance, with little discussion of warrants, raises Constitutional questions the courts are just beginning to address. The small boxes seem ideal for drone deployment. The Journal could only guess at what the Marshals are looking for—they do track fugitives—but said they also take target requests from the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). Civil libertarians have been making noise in court over cell-site simulators. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed lawsuits seeking Stingray information in Anaheim and Sacramento, and the First Amendment Coalition filed a lawsuit in San Diego. SOURCE http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/top-stories/lapd-has-had-stingray-on-steroids-surveillance-equipment-for-a-decade-150812?news=857184 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT I've come across this before. Chicago Police sound really full-on from what little I've read. How deceitful, hypocritical and totalitarian is this? US claims to be the land of the 'free' and 'democratic', and look what's going on there.  Never mind 'Stingray on Steroids'; this is state surveillance / state control on steroids.  Totalitarian USA. No end to violations of civil liberties. I don't know if 'dirtboxes' are the same as fake phone towers. Looks like it's the same deal: A dirtbox (or DRT box) is a cell site simulator; a phone device mimicking a cell phone tower. The device is designed to create a signal strong enough within a short range so as to force dormant mobile phones to automatically switch over to it. [wikipedia] I've not read the rest of the Wikipedia entry; I've just captured that off the search summary. At least the civil liberties people are trying to challenge the practices (which have gone on for a decade). What's really shocking is the absence of disclosure and lack of court oversight, even though the US constitution is supposed to guarantee various civil liberties. ꕤ

HOLY HELLFIRE BATMAN - US 5000 HELLFIRE AIR-LAND MISSILES TO IRAQ

US to supply Iraq 5000 Hellfire missiles worth $ 700 million July 30, 12:50 UTC+4 WASHINGTON, July 30. / ITAR-TASS /. The US State Department has approved the deal of 5000 Hellfire air-land missiles AGM-114 that the Pentagon will give to Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported. The total contract amount will be $ 700 million. According to the Pentagon press release, "the missile directly supports the Government of Iraq and serves the interests of the people of Iraq and the United States”. It also noted that "Iraq will use the Hellfire missiles to help improve the Iraq Security Forces’ capability to support current ongoing ground operations." The US Defense Ministry explained that the Iraqi armed forces that already possess rockets of this type should not have problems with their use. All the necessary equipment for missile use and transportation included to the cost. An American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the production and supply of Hellfire missiles. These 5000 rockets have three versions of AGM-114 - K, N and R. http://en.itar-tass.com/world/742845l

Wall Street Journal - here. Iraq ... billions of dollars in deals for fighter jets, helicopters, armored vehicles, radar equipment and munitions. re Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the U.S. has stepped up surveillance flights over the country, and dispatched more than 700 U.S. forces there Pentagon ... expedited the sale of hundreds of Hellfires, which can be fired from planes and helicopters, to replenish Iraq's stockpile. U.S. has delivered 780 Hellfires to Iraq so far this year, including more than 450 arriving this month. Another 366 are due in August Lockheed formally delivered the first F-16 of a multibillion-dollar order from Iraq for the fighters. [Delivery of]  three more F-16s [due] this  year --  U.S. government yet to formally approve [fly] Harris Corp., the military communications specialist, said Tuesday that it had recently booked an order from Iraq for military radios ... ... part of US effort to [bolster]  the Iraqi military while the Pentagon develops proposals to counter the Islamic State.

While I was reading this, I kept thinking no wonder Assad is so confident.  Then I realised I had the wrong country and that this is IRAQ. 

Oops.  Still can't keep Middle East straight.

What I got out of this is:  war is money and plenty of it.  

As it's a reference to 'deals' and $700 mil, I take it the US isn't giving away weapons -- it's selling them.

From the Itar-Tass article, it looks like it was an all-inclusive deal (ie ancillary equipment and transportation).  

Got to wondering how they're going to pay.  Looks like a poor country.  Whenever you see pics of the Middle East, looks like a barren wasteland.

Check Wikipedia, indicates:

Oil reserves in Iraq are considered the world’s fifth-largest proven oil reserves, with 140 billion barrels

Iraq also has natural gas reserves.

So that's an official 'arms deal', I guess.