The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is currently suing two U.S. Homeland Security agencies due to stingray controversy. Not to be confused with the sea creatures, the stingrays in question are a type of surveillance equipment \u2013 equipment that might very well be recording your information.<\/p>\n
Stingrays are used to track cell-phones, collecting information<\/a> on location, calls and even text messages. As you might suspect, this can come in very handy with investigations, but stingrays don\u2019t just collect data from criminals. In fact, a stingray can pick up information from every cell-phone within their radius. <\/p>\n Seems sketchy, right? Just wait, it gets worse; we actually don\u2019t know all that much about how stingrays operate. We do know the basics \u2013 stingrays mimic cell phone towers in order to trick phones into connecting to their network \u2013 but that\u2019s about it. This is on purpose: stingrays are sold directly to government agencies, which range from police departments to ICE, and come with strict non-disclosure agreements. <\/p>\n We still don\u2019t know the full extent of what these devices can do, or what agencies are doing with them.<\/p>\n To shine a light on this problem, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act to collect information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Unfortunately, two years have passed since this initial action and both agencies have continued to refuse access to documentation. <\/p>\n Which is why the ACLU is now suing both organizations. <\/p>\n The ACLU is hoping to find information on when\/where the stingrays are being used across the United States<\/a>, as well as how employees are primed to utilize the machines. It\u2019s possible that everything is above board, but without at least some transparency, there\u2019s a real risk that this equipment could be used to violate the rights of US citizens. <\/p>\n