Police are employing the cell phone tracking technology called Stingray throughout the country operating under the radar and without court supervision. And in a Tallahassee case, the American Civil Liberties Union thinks the police are justifying their lack of transparency by citing nondisclosure agreements with equipment vendors. (Wired, March 3, 2014, by Kim Zetter)
The ACLU is seeking to crack the secrecy in Florida by filing a motion for public access to sealed court records and filing public records requests to police and sheriff’s departments throughout the state. Since 2010 the Tallahassee police department used the Stingray technology 200 times. “Potentially unconstitutional government surveillance on this scale should not remain hidden from the public just because a private corporation desires secrecy. And it certainly should not be concealed from judges,” writes Nathan Freed Wessler for the ACLU, March 3, 2014.
Jon Campbell of the LA Weekly, January 24, 2013, documented the use of Stingray technology by the Los Angeles Police Department, but the department was not forthcoming about the cost of the equipment, the policies governing its use or the extent to which they are obtaining court sanction.
Late last year, the USA TODAY said that in a study of over 125 police agencies in 33 states that a quarter of law enforcement agencies are monitoring cell phone numbers and location in broad sweeps. At least 25 departments own Stingrays. (USA TODAY, December 8, 2013, by John Kelly)