Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
New records show the FBI is using a controversial cell phone tracking technology that dupes phones into using a fake network, Slate reports. The idea is to track the movements of suspects in real time, Slate reported. But communication is not intercepted.
The technology, called “Stingray,” is controversial because it collects data from the phones of innocent bystanders and can interrupt phone service.
Critics charge that the practice violates federal communications law, Slate wrote.
“There are clearly concerns, even within the agency, that the use of Stingray technology might be inconsistent with current regulations,” says attorney Alan Butler, of the Electric Privacy Information Center. “I don’t know how the DOJ justifies the use of Stingrays given the limitations of the Communications Act prohibition.”
