The use of stingrays by United States legislation enforcement is an investigative technique utilized by each federal and native law enforcement within the United States to acquire info from cell phones by mimicking a mobile phone tower. The devices which accomplish this are generically often known as IMSI-catchers, however are commonly called stingrays, ItagPro a brand sold by the Harris Corporation. Initially, iTagPro shop the use of stingray cellphone trackers was a secret, ItagPro as a consequence of a number of non-disclosure agreements between particular person police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Based on the American Civil Liberties Union, the FBI entered into agreements with a minimum of forty eight police departments in the United States. In these agreements, the FBI allowed police departments to use the stingrays, while requiring police departments provide no data to either the public or ItagPro the courts concerning the devices' operation or existence. In December 2012, the Electronic Privacy Information Center launched paperwork which show the United States Department of Justice discussing using cell phone tracking equipment, including addressing unlawful interference issues.

More information on stingrays was obtained in March 2013, iTagPro features when the American Civil Liberties Union released paperwork it obtained by way of a Freedom of information Act request. Stingray gadgets have been used in a wide range of criminal investigations, from murder and kidnapping to misdemeanor theft. The way in which legislation enforcement use stingrays has been criticized by a lot of civil liberties groups, who've filed lawsuits in opposition to present practices. Baltimore, Maryland has a a lot higher use of stingrays compared to different giant cities, like Boston, New York City and iTagPro features San Diego. The official place of the US Federal government is that the use of stingrays does not require a possible trigger warrant, as a result of they claim stingrays are a type of pen register faucet, which does not require a warrant, as determined in Smith v. Maryland. The federal government notes that they do not intercept the precise conversation, only monitoring id of the telephone and its location. The gadgets do have the technical capability to document the content of calls, so the federal government requires these content-intercepting capabilities to be disabled in normal use.

In September 2015, the US Justice Department issued new tips requiring federal brokers to acquire warrants earlier than using stingray gadgets, besides in exigent circumstances. Washington state passed an analogous legislation. In addition, California, Minnesota and Utah have also passed laws requiring warrants for iTagPro features stingray use. In 2011, within the case of Daniel David Rigmaiden in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, the chief of the FBI Tracking Technology Unit wrote an affidavit defending using an unspecified pen register system. Information about the mannequin or iTagPro features perform was purposefully withheld, citing FBI policy

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Pub: 09 Sep 2025 18:08 UTC

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