MESSAGE
| DATE | 2016-12-20 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout-NYLXS] The ever growing police state
|
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/500158/house-report-urges-clearer-guidance-on-cellphone-technology.html
House Report Urges Clearer Guidance on Cellphone Technology
(Tuesday, December 20th, 2016 06:00 AM)
droidClearer guidelines are needed for law enforcement’s use of
secretive and intrusive cellphone tracking technology, and police and
federal agents should be upfront with a judge about their deployment, a
House committee said in a report Monday.
The report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
examines the use of cell-site simulators by federal, state and local law
enforcement agencies. The technology works by mimicking a cellphone
tower, allowing law enforcement to collect basic data — such as a unique
subscriber number — from cellphones in a particular area or
neighborhood. The data can help police determine the location of a
targeted phone without the user even making a call or sending a text
message.
The surveillance devices have been broadly adopted by police departments
and federal agencies, which see them as vital in helping track the
location of criminal suspects. But the technology has raised Fourth
Amendment concerns among privacy advocates for its ability to collect
data not only about the targets of an investigation but also innocent
bystanders who happen to be within range of the simulator device.
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“While law enforcement agencies should be able to utilize technology as
a tool to help officers be safe and accomplish their missions, absent
proper oversight and safeguards, the domestic use of cell-site
simulators may well infringe upon the constitutional rights of citizens
to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as the right
to free association,” the report states.
The report says the Justice Department has 310 devices across its
component agencies — including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service —
and spent more than $71 million between fiscal years 2010 and 2014 to
acquire and use the technology, with individual devices costing as much
as $460,000. The Department of Homeland Security has 124 cell-site
simulation devices, according to the report.
Local police departments across the country have used them repeatedly,
too, and the Internal Revenue Service says it’s deployed the technology
to pursue investigations into money laundering, identity theft and other
crimes.
The Justice Department issued new policies last year aimed at ensuring
that federal law enforcement officials obtain a search warrant before
using the technology, excluding certain emergency circumstances. The
policy applied only to federal agencies within the Justice Department
and not, as some privacy advocates had hoped, to state and local law
enforcement whose own use of cell-site simulators has drawn scrutiny
from judges. The Department of Homeland Security issued its own, similar
policy.
But the House committee said there should be more consistent standards
covering local agencies as well.
The House committee made several recommendations, including calling on
state and local agencies to adopt policies that are on par with those in
use by the Justice and Homeland Security departments.
The report also criticized the use of non-disclosure agreements that
state and local law enforcement agencies sign with the FBI and the
manufacturer selling the device. Those agreements, which prohibit local
authorities from discussing their use of the simulators in court,
“should be replaced with agreements that require clarity and candor to
the court whenever a cell-site simulator has been used by law
enforcement in a criminal investigation,” according to the House report.
And it said the federal government should make funding to local agencies
for cell-site simulators contingent on a requirement that they adopt
“new and enhanced” guidelines of the Justice and Homeland Security
departments.
(AP)
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive
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http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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