Saturday, September 6, 2014

Cellphone Tapping Becoming Increasingly Mainstream

By Lou Saboter

It was reported that Alan Grayson requested that Tom Wheeler of the FCC look into fake cell phone towers back in August. Concerns about criminals and even foreign terrorists exploiting the towers to gain access to information was cited as a reason. It was also reported that police had lied to courts about using the technology. Later, it was reported there were fake towers near military bases, causing some to speculate that the military was being spied upon for nefarious purposes by unknown agencies.

Could the police be spying on the military? Or corporations? This isn't yet clear, but what is clear is that the 4th Amendment appears to be ready for display at a natural history museum, and everyone wants in on the game.

Late last year, USA Today reported that the NSA wasn't the only agency in the 4th Amendment breaking game.

Fake cell tower use, which is impossible to detect by most cell phone users, was mapped out in part by Cryptophone users who get warning messages about IMSI tapping.Stingray devices aren't necessarily always towers, either, an can be mounted on vehicles and some are body-worn.

Christopher Soghoian of the ACLU had complained the FCC is limiting public debate via FOIA request suppression while ignoring the fact that even grad students and hackers are building their own stingray units.




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