The NYCLU requested documents under the Freedom of Information Law and received the first round of information that it asked for in November.
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Stingrays mimic cell towers and are devices that can track location, collect the phone numbers you have been texting and calling, and even intercept the content of those communications.
The NYPD told the NYCLU it had no written policy for the devices and that the practice was to obtain a “pen register order” before using the device.
A FOIL request in May by the civil rights group found the New York State Police spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on purchasing Stingrays and related equipment.
Stingrays operate by imitating cell phone towers, sweeping up massive amounts of user data without their knowledge or permission.
Many of other police forces, and some federal agencies, are known to use stingray technology to track suspects.
“Considering the NYPD’s troubling history of surveilling innocent people, it must at the very least establish strict privacy policies and obtain warrants prior to using intrusive equipment like Stingrays that can track people’s cell phones”, said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU.
New York City police have tracked citizens’ cellphones over 1,000 times since 2008 without using warrants, according to public records obtained by the New York Civil Liberties Union. Rather than demonstrating probable cause, they must simply show that information obtained from the pen register is “relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation”.
So says the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), which obtained records from NYPD detailing their use of the devices while investigating cases. The organization notes in its announcement that the federal Department of Justice has backed away from pen register orders and now requires warrants, except in emergencies.
In response to the report, an NYPD spokesman denied that its use of stingray technology poses a privacy concern.
The simulators can also sweep up information from nearby “bystander” phones.
She said the NYCLU could have difficulty establishing the legal standing to bring such a challenge, which would probably have to come from a criminal defendant specifically targeted by a simulator. States such as Virginia, Washington and California recently have passed legislation requiring search warrants to use cell-site simulators.
This is counter to what Cyrus Farivar at ArsTechnica discovered: While most of those 1,016 Stingray uses involved investigations of serious felonies such as homicide, assault, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and rape, they were also used for investigating money laundering and ID theft.
The NYPD, before using [a Stingray], ensures that we have established probable cause, consults with a District Attorney, and applies for a court order, which must be approved by a judge….
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Phil Sears/AP NYPD have been using Stingray cell phone tracking devices.
