LAPD Has Had “Stingray on Steroids” Surveillance Equipment for a Decade
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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.
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.
EU-NATO IMPERIALISM ❌ 