MuckRock released a document it said was obtained by a...
MuckRock released a document it said was obtained by a member in which the FBI acknowledged the Tacoma, Washington, Police Department’s use of StingRay cellphone tracking equipment. MuckRack released the copy of a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) between Tacoma and the…
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Justice Department Monday. StingRay devices are cell site simulators, manufactured by Harris, which “trick mobile phones into connecting to a StingRay as if it were a cell tower,” MuckRock said (http://bit.ly/1slLxiJ). “This allows police to determine the cell phone’s location, and thus its owner’s.” The document is heavily redacted, with four of six pages completely blacked out. The FBI requires state and local police to sign an NDA before it can acquire a cellphone eavesdropping and tracking technology, said the FBI letter released through a Freedom of Information Act request by MuckRock, the news site that submits FOIA requests (http://bit.ly/XUNmoG). The document comes from 2012 and shows the FBI asking the Tacoma police to agree to the NDA before acquiring the StingRay tracking technology. According to other FOIA requests made by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the FBI has used StingRay since at least 1995 (http://bit.ly/1mqEX8f). The FBI, Harris and Tacoma police had no immediate comment.