Tacoma police admit to cellphone surveillance, say they don’t keep data Read more here: http://www.

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/08/27/3349396_tpd-responds-to-cell-phone-surveillance.html?sp=/99/296/331/&rh=1



A man works on a cluster of cellphone antennae atop a small tower over a building near downtown Tacoma, August 26, 2014

Tacoma police admit to cellphone surveillance, say they don’t keep data
By Kate Martin
Staff writer
August 27, 2014 Updated 14 hours ago

The Tacoma Police Department admitted Wednesday to using a cell site simulator, also sometimes called a Stingray, to find suspects of felony-level crimes since 2009. Police said they only use it with permission from a judge.

The device, small enough to fit in a car, can be driven to a neighborhood to help police find a suspect by tracking the signal of the cellphone he carries. But in the process, the Stingray also sweeps up data from everyone else nearby, technology experts say.

Police, who sought permission last year from the Tacoma City Council to update the equipment, told the council it was to be used to find and prevent improvised explosive devices.

Assistant Police Chief Kathy McAlpine said in a statement Wednesday that the police department has never used its cell site simulator to find an improvised explosive device.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. These may be illegal

I've worked in the telecommunications business for 36 years. It used to be that a court order was required for police to monitor one's phone conversations.

That may have changed during the so called "war on terra".