Chicago Lawyer Sues City, Police Department Over Stingray Cellphone Surviellance
from the messed-with-the-wrong-guy's-phone dept
Chicago attorney Jerry Boyle -- notably not representing himself -- is suing the city of Chicago and a number of police officials for constitutional violations stemming from the PD's Stingray use. It's a potential class action suit, but Boyle -- at least in his own case -- claims to have pinpointed exactly when his phone signal was intercepted by the police. Cyrus Farivar of Ars Technica points out this detail in the lawsuit's claims:
The 32-page lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Chicago on Thursday, specifically notes where and when the stingray was used, on January 15, 2015, “at approximately 8:00pm at the protest, near the 2200 block of West Ogden Avenue.”
However, the civil complaint does not explain exactly how the plaintiff knows this information.
“The evidence regarding CPD's use at that event is something that will be disclosed during the litigation,” Matt Topic, one of Boyle’s lawyers, e-mailed Ars.
The allegations [PDF] don't contain any clue as to what exactly Boyle used to determine his phone signal was being intercepted, but there are more than few choices available to the privacy-conscious who may want to know if and when their signal is being rerouted. Hackers have put together their own tools to detect fake cell towers and SRLabs has produced an app called SnoopSnitch that puts that power right in your cellphone.
What's undisputed is that the Chicago PD is in possession of regular IMSI catchers, as well as souped-up versions known as DRTboxes. Thanks to crowd-sourced FOIA activity, it's also known this equipment has been purchased with asset forfeiture funds in an effort to keep the PD's surveillance purchases from leaving as wide of a paper trail.
What can also be inferred from the allegations is that the Chicago PD deployed its surveillance equipment on participants in First Amendment-protected activity, which may only add to the Constitutional fallout of this lawsuit. This surveillance also occurred more than a year before state legislation was passed requiring court orders for Stingray deployments.
It will also be interesting to see what Boyle delivers as evidence his phone signal was grabbed by a Chicago PD Stingray. This will be essential to prove standing. Unfortunately, it will also have to be matched up with Stingray records held by the PD, which won't have much interest in turning those over to the court and possibly having them be made public.
There's also a chance the PD won't have any records of this deployment. If the Stingray was searching for a specific number or numbers, it could have been in "catch and release" mode where every nearby number was grabbed by the cell tower spoofer, but only data related to the targeted numbers retained.
Considering the years of opacity surrounding its Stingray use, this isn't going to be a fun legal battle for the Chicago PD. You can pretty much assume the FBI will take the lead in deciding what can or can't be presented in open court, as it has been granted this control with the non-disclosure agreement it makes every Stingray-purchasing law enforcement agency sign before it will allow them to deploy these devices.
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Filed Under: chicago, imsi catcher, jerry boyle, stingray, surveillance
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interesting
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Re: interesting
If he ahs evidence that he was tagged by a catcher, the police have records that one was deployed, and they have no other information to provide... what then? The FBI can't just redact everything and say that it's classified and inadmissible to court.
If the FBI obstructs this investigation, does that make them culpable too? The equipment was used under their guidance, after all.
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Re: Re: interesting
Yes, they can.
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Re: Re: interesting
What about "you have no standing, because you saw the tower was fake and refused to connect, so nothing was captured"? Or "you knew and connected anyway, so it was voluntary"?
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Re: Re: Re: interesting How to trap a StingRay tower signal
Standing is made easier by: 1) using the IMSI catcher detector app and taking screenshots of the interception 2) using a wifi hotspot mapping app, and screencaps 3) using a network sniffing tool like Wireshark app, and collecting I/O data of all connections, and using it with a screen capture app 4)using an app that documents the activity of the rogue AP's with signal strength as they connect (these and all of the above have bar graph and other types of signal strength graphs) 5) do all o the above at the same time an photograph the actual tower (which is difficult to pull off without help)
Then, there are other ways, but these above are th most hand on a cell phone. Sometimes, you can actually watch your signal 'drive around' as they have it registered in their tower, and using multiple screencaps and the above techniques can trace your signal to 'known towers' versus 'unknown towers,'and the internet i ful of sites that have tower locators with 'historical data' and known coordinates.
Also, many/all of these type devices use unregistered or unknown MAC addresses, which sets them apart in a graph. And too, they can be demonstrated to pull in ALL wireless signals(not just phones)so if you have a computer, and others do to, you can document the signals being pulled all at once into the same 'tower'
There are other ways to document it, use your imagination.
The hardest part of gaining standing though, is proving it was that particular PD that did it,or that there actually 'was' a StingRay deployed 'by' cops- most of these departments have no protocol for GPS tracking their own device, much less the guys who use them against our citizens.
So, suuuure, prolly some "bad guys" or the 'Russian spies,' the 'godless Chinese,' or the mafia did it....or maybe you're just a crazy person, making it all up.
Whaddayamean someone is tapping your phone/internet/etc and following you around?? That's classic paranoid schizophrenia!( and all of this as the psychologists use a definition of schizophrenia from 1952 in the Heyday of CIA mind control, and Wild Bill. Kafka is rolling in his cocoon. Or-maybe John Nash's Beautiful Mind...? Or Ilse Aichinger's circus, bu with a imaginary rope-or maybe, D.E. Cameron is rolling a dead Kafka around in Nash's mind, which is LIKE Aichinger's bound man at a Circus, but louder; and just 'sometimes,' when Nash 'imagines' he is hearing clicking noises on his phone, or out in the garage.)
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Re: interesting
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Re:
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FBI?
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Re: FBI?
Unless he's sued the FBI, how will they be able to insert themselves into this case?
Same way the do all the time, from the shadows, in a smoke filled back room were they keep the rubber hoses and weighted body bags.
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Re:
And surveillance hawks being challenged in court is definitely news.
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Stingray violates fcc rules by default, so both manufacturer and offended cell operator are in collusion with cpd.
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Re:
The FCC granted them a special exemption from the rules. Because they're so special.
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And he's suing the parties in their 'individual capacity'
Class action-oh my! Color of law-yesss!This case could be the icebreaker. Or, in Chicago terms "an Italian toothpick."
The lawyer, who works for the National Lawyers Guild, might be on the right track-sue these individual cops who look the other way as our nation is overtaken by their colleagues who are on the take, under blackmail or otherwise corrupted as our people are exploited wholesale by the security industry and it's associated domestic terrorists:
"(Police Chief)McCarthy is sued in his individual capacity for his direct participation in, supervisory liability for, and failure to intervene to prevent the unlawful use of cell site simulators on Mr. Boyle and all others similarly situated."
Fair Disclosure: they have been using these since at least 2010,when the city was virtually federalized with DHS everywhere (well, not EVERYWHERE-mostly in black and Hispanic neighborhoods) often right AT the actual tower (don't ask me why I know that)-yet I have no idea why they would sit literally at the tower. Tower dumps?
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