Finally, a reason to pay attention to Tacoma.
The basics:
-In 2006, Tacoma Police applied to the Justice Dept. for requisition of hardware that tricks all cell phones w/in a half-mile radius into recognizing it as a cell tower. Cell phones then transmit metadata to the device, which can then be trolled for suspicious activity.
-The device is basically an advanced pen register. Except that it applies to everybody within .5 miles of use. By the way, you usually need a judicial order before using pen register. On each individual suspect.
-Tacoma applied for the hardware under the auspices of protecting against IED's. Because there are so many of those in Tacoma.
-Up to now, it has been used for purposes of criminal prosecution rather than anti-terrorism measures. See above re. "nobody wants to bomb Tacoma".
-Local judge in charge of granting tap warrants had no idea that this was a thing.
Why should you pay attention to this? Because if Tacoma can get it, who can't. I guarantee that you'll see more instances of stuff like this cropping up. In fact...
How is this not already national news? How do we even pretend that this is anywhere near constitutional? Why am I being forced to take Tacoma, WA seriously?
Well... to be fair:
1) It's a wire-tapping device, not "PRISM lite."
2) It works by being in physical proximity of your target, jamming the nearest tower, spoofing the network and acting as a relay for cell phone traffic to/from that tower.
3) They're not exactly uncommon.
4) They formed a major plot device of Season 4 of The Wire, back in 2007.
5) Their functionality is so simple and obvious that their patents have been vacated in England.
6) It's not even the cops' fault they didn't disclose everything.
7) They actually cost more than an MRAP or other military cast-off (and have demonstrably better applicability in law enforcement)
8) You and I both know that the Tacoma News Tribune is an out-and-out rag and always has been. They didn't even really start covering David Brame until they were doing retrospectives. (for those of you not local to the PNW, it's quite a story).
So. Yeah, wiretapping. But I've never seen any evidence that Stingrays are more than a localized violation of unlawful search and seizure. If you want to use anything you get out of one you need a wiretapping warrant, same as it ever was. Does it potentially scoop up other cell conversations? Yeah, but it's not a dragnet device like anything associated with the NSA is. It's not a data collection device, it's a data interception device. You need a target before you haul it out of the storage shed.