Stingrays increasingly used by city county or federal law enforcement officials to trickcell phones
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC U.S. Dist.Judge William Pauley in Manhattan recently ruled that defendant Raymond Lambis rights were violated when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used a Stingray a little-known surveillance device
that can trick suspects cell phones into revealing their locations without a warrant to find his Washington Heights apartment.
Stingrays also known as cell site simulators mimic cell phone towers in order to force cell phones in the area to transmit pings back to the devices enabling law enforcement to track a suspects phone and pinpoint its location.
The ruling marked the first time a federal judge had suppressed evidence obtained using a stingray according to the American Civil Liberties Union which like other privacy advocacy groups has criticized law enforcements use of such devices.
Stingrays a surveillance device used increasingly by city county or federal law enforcement officials tricks the cell phones of suspects and any other users cellphone in the area into revealing their locations.
Critics of the technology call it invasive and say it has been regularly used in secret to catch suspect in violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The DEA had used a stingray to identify Lambis apartment as the most likely location of a cell phone identified during a drug-trafficking probe Judge Pauley said doing so constituted an unreasonable search.
Absent a search warrant the government may not turn a citizens cell phone into a tracking device Pauley wrote.
This opinion strongly reinforces the strength of our constitutional privacy rights in the digital age ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler said in a statement.
The ACLU has counted 66 agencies in 24 states and the District of Columbia that own stingrays but said that figure under-represents the actual number of devices in use given what it called secrecy surrounding their purchases.
A Maryland appeals court in March became what the ACLU said was the first state appellate court to order evidence obtained using a stingray suppressed. Pauleys decision was the first at the federal level.
It was unclear whether prosecutors would seek to appeal. A spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara whose office was prosecuting the case declined to comment.
The U.S. Justice Department in September changed its internal policies and required government agents to obtain a warrant before using a cell site simulator.
Bernard Seidler Lambis lawyer noted that occurred a week after his client was charged. He said it was unclear if the drug case against Lambis would now be dismissed.
