The FBI uses the Stingray to track suspects and says that it does not use the tool to intercept the content of communications. The authorities can then hone in on specific phones of interest to monitor the location of the user in real time or use the spy tool to log a record of all phones in a targeted area at a particular time. The Stingray can be covertly set up virtually anywhere-in the back of a vehicle, for instance-and can be used over a targeted radius to collect hundreds of unique phone identifying codes, such as the International Mobile Subscriber Number (IMSI) and the Electronic Serial Number (ESM). It’s a box-shaped portable device, sometimes described as an “IMSI catcher,” that gathers information from phones by sending out a signal that tricks them into connecting to it. What follows is the most comprehensive picture to date of the mobile phone surveillance technology that has been deployed in the US over the past decade.ĮnlargeThe Stingray has become the most widely known and contentious spy tool used by government agencies to track mobile phones, in part due to an Arizona court case that called the legality of its use into question. Disclosed, in some cases for the first time, are photographs of the Harris spy tools, their cost, names, capabilities, and the agencies known to have purchased them. In an effort to inform the debate around controversial covert government tactics, Ars has compiled a list of this equipment by scrutinizing publicly available purchasing contracts published on government websites and marketing materials obtained through equipment resellers. Since 2004, Harris has earned more than $40 million from spy technology contracts with city, state, and federal authorities in the US, according to procurement records. These little-known cousins of the Stingray cannot only track movements-they can also perform denial-of-service attacks on phones and intercept conversations. But the same company that exclusively manufacturers the Stingray-Florida-based Harris Corporation-has for years been selling government agencies an entire range of secretive mobile phone surveillance technologies from a catalogue that it conceals from the public on national security grounds.ĭetails about the devices are not disclosed on the Harris website, and marketing materials come with a warning that anyone distributing them outside law enforcement agencies or telecom firms could be committing a crime punishable by up to five years in jail. ![]() Rights groups alleged that its use could be unlawful. Monitoring citizens' cell phones without their knowledge is a booming business. From Arizona to California, Florida to Texas, state and federal authorities have been quietly investing millions of dollars acquiring clandestine mobile phone surveillance equipment in the past decade.Įarlier this year, a covert tool called the “Stingray” that can gather data from hundreds of phones over targeted areas attracted international attention. However, the NSA isn't the only US government agency using controversial surveillance methods. The National Security Agency’s spying tactics are being intensely scrutinized following the recent leaks of secret documents.
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