Florida police are using Stingray tracking devices — brawny surveillance toolscloaked in secrecy , capable of hoovering data point from the earphone of anyone in a wide search area — to catch thousands of suspect , even in low - level crimes like 911 hangups .
document publish by the ACLU this week show how far-flung Stingray use is in Floridaamong local practice of law enforcement . Ars Technica’sCyrus Farivardissected why the tight - lipped utilization of these spy devices , which sweep up information from bystander as well as law targets , is so unelaborated :
Thetroveof documents , which werepublishedearlier this week by the American Civil Liberties Union , show that while constabulary agencies often free the purchase of such hardware in the name of counter - act of terrorism — none of the hundreds of disclosed use involves terrorism .
As Farivarpointed out , court document reveal burglary , robbery , and theft as the most common Stingray uses . This makes the lack of regard for the privacy of bystanders even more scratchy . For people living in Florida , the state may very well be violating your legal right not to catch the next Bin Laden , but to catch the dipshit who prank 911 .
[ Ars Technica ]
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