Stingray cell phone tracker
Back in February, the ACLU filed a motion to unseal transcripts of a case where Tallahassee Police Department used the Stingray to track a cell phone to a suspect’s apartment. The judge recently unsealed the entire transcript. The part the sought to keep secret can be found
[here]. The ACLU article makes it sound quite nefarious. Nothing too surprising. The transcript basically confirms what was understood or assumed to be the method of Stingray technology.
- Stingrays “emulate a cellphone tower” and “force” cell phones to register their location and identifying information with the stingray instead of with real cell towers in the area.
- Stingrays can track cell phones whenever the phones are turned on, not just when they are making or receiving calls.
- Stingrays force cell phones in range to transmit information back “at full signal, consuming battery faster.”
[Read the transcript portion regarding Stingray operation]
