The Wall Street Journal revealed details of the Justice Department’s program that scoops up data from thousands of cellphones.
The U.S. is spying on a large number of Americans by scooping up cellphone data through devices installed on airplanes, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Seb Oliver
The WSJ details a Justice Department spy program that targets criminal suspects in the U.S., but also sifts through thousands of other cellphones belonging to innocent people through decoy cellphone towers installed in planes.
These devices, known as "dirtboxes," are attached to small, Cessna aircrafts operated by the U.S. Marshals Service. The program operated out of at least five metropolitan area-airports on a regular basis.
The planes' flying range covers most of the U.S. population, sources familiar to the program told WSJ. During a single flight, the device has the ability to collect data from tens of thousands of cellphones including the identifying information and location.
The dirtboxes mimic cellphone towers, the kind used by large telecommunication firms. So, for example, for people with cellphones on Verizon's network, the "dirtbox" can trick the phone and others into thinking that the plane is a Verizon cellphone tower. Phones that are turned on would "ping" the device and report its unique registration information.
From the WSJ report:
The technology is aimed at locating cellphones linked to individuals under investigation by the government, including fugitives and drug dealers, but it collects information on cellphones belonging to people who aren't criminal suspects, these people said. They said the device determines which phones belong to suspects and "lets go" of the non-suspect phones.
The U.S. has reportedly used similar technology to locate terrorist suspects abroad and catch drug dealers and fugitives within the country.
People within the Marshals Service have doubts about the legality of the operation, WSJ reported. They have questioned whether the program is doing enough to minimize the invasion of privacy of ordinary citizens and if the data collected is handled effectively.
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from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1wyqaHh
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