Justice Dept. to Require Warrants for Some Cellphone Tracking - nytimes

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will regularly require federal agents to seek warrants before using secretive equipment that can locate and track cellphones, the agency announced Thursday, the first regulations on an increasingly controversial technology.

The new policy, which also limits what information may be collected and how long it can be stored, puts a measure of judicial oversight on a technology that was designed to hunt terrorists overseas but has become a popular tool among federal agents and local police officers for fighting crime.

Civil libertarians have expressed grave privacy concerns about the technology’s proliferation, but the new Justice Department policies do not apply to local police forces.

The device, commonly called a cell-site simulator or StingRay, tricks cellphones into connecting with it by acting like a cell tower, allowing the authorities to determine the location of a tracked phone. In doing so, however, the equipment also connects with all other phones in the area, allowing investigators to collect information on people not suspected of any crime.

The device is also capable of capturing calls, text messages, emails and other data. Until Thursday’s regulations, the rules for the use of that information and the duration it could be kept had not been detailed and varied across the department’s offices and agencies.

Sally Q. Yates, the deputy attorney general, said Thursday that investigators could not use cell-site simulators to intercept content such as emails or text messages. And all information collected would be deleted daily.

“The policy is really designed to try to promote transparency, consistency, and accountability, all while being mindful of the public’s privacy,” Ms. Yates told reporters.

The new rules also aim to bring greater uniformity to the use of the technology, outlining new management practices, reporting requirements and a standardized approval processes for requesting a warrant to use the technology.

Other than in rare urgent cases, the policy will require that agents confer with prosecutors before using a cell-site simulator and then inform a judge of what the device will be used for — measures that have not been common practice. - Read More at NYT

Justice Dept. to Require Warrants for Some Cellphone Tracking

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