Stingray phone tracker: The law enforcer’s digital companion

This electronic device, called Stingray, is so cool and powerful, you’ll want to own one right away – if only for the fun of it. (Though, seriously-speaking, you may not need it unless you are interested in tracking someone’s phone calls!) It’s been around for more than 10 years now; the technology is quite mature, […]

This electronic device, called Stingray, is so cool and powerful, you’ll want to own one right away – if only for the fun of it. (Though, seriously-speaking, you may not need it unless you are interested in tracking someone’s phone calls!) It’s been around for more than 10 years now; the technology is quite mature, and, the neat part: the price of the device is coming down like crazy.
The device is so useful, it ought to be illegal! But, surprise, surprise, it is not. Apparently, you can go get yourself yours – though it is still pricey for most folks. As are most of the cool inventions of our time, the development of Stingray was funded by the U.S. military. However, it is available to civilians, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense’s “Dual-Use” scheme.
Assume you are located in a hall – restaurant, hotel, conference, assembly, classroom, or you take part in a protest rally outside, or whatever, with hundreds or even thousands of people at your location. Stingray can grab the identification numbers of all the phones in the hall or at the rally, switch the connections of the phones to the local network of the device (stingray), and take control of all the phones – basically disconnecting them from the service providers (MTN, GLO, ETISALAT, etc.). This way, all your conversations can be recorded and tracked over time, even after you have left the original venue where your phone was “hijacked.” Obviously, any phones that call your line, or that your line calls, can also be hijacked and tracked. Depending on the contents of the data (voice, text, video, etc.) that your phone receives or sends out, your service provider can be asked to provide personal information about you for law enforcement purposes. Metadata collection with Stingray is also routinely done, and the device can easily deny you service. Stingray can do wonders for surveillance.
Police departments love this device; and the law enforcement folks would like to have it banned from public ownership; but I don’t know if they have attempted to have this done. For all I know, the device seems to be available to the general public. Stingray and similar devices are used widely by local and state law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and possibly secretly in the United Kingdom!
It has been reported that the use of the device has been frequently funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – the U.S. Immigration folks. Such a grant was allegedly used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 2006 to buy a Stingray for “regional terrorism investigations.” However, it is believed that the LAPD has been using it for just about any investigation imaginable, according to reports ascribed to Electronic Frontier Foundation.
According to an organization that fights for the civil liberties of American citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), forty two law enforcement agencies in 17 out of the 50 states in the U.S. own Stingray technology. In November 2014, Slate magazine reported that at least 46 state and local police departments in the U.S. use cell-site simulators, costing between $16,000 and $125,000. The Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Police Department’s use of Stingray was reported last year to be unusually high. According to a Wikipedia entry, in some states, the devices are made available to local police departments by state surveillance units.
Outside of the U.S., reports credited to the U.K. Sunday Times and Privacy International state the use of Stingrays and catchers of phone’s International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number and Electronic Serial Number (ESN) in Ireland against the Irish Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), which is an oversight agency of the Irish police force Garda Síochána. Also, on June 10, 2015, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was said to have reported on an investigation by Sky News about the existence of possible false mobile phone towers being used by the London Metropolitan Police.
Stingray and similar devices are developed by Harris Corporation, a U.S. communications company that produces wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision equipment and both terrestrial and space-borne antennas for use in the U.S. government, defense, and commercial sectors. The company has its headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, USA.
Obviously, with a system like stingray, there is immediately an opportunity for another technological advancement. That is, the development of counter-stingray systems, that will detect the existence of stingray-like devices in the environs, and take preemptive actions.  After all, that was what happened when police radars first surfaced, for secretly determining the speed of unsuspecting drivers in the U.S. I remember that as far back as 1983 in the U.S., folks developed counter systems to detect, and perhaps nullify, police radars. The counter systems are legal and still widely in use today!