the US COURT of Appeals for D.C. Ruled that use of a StingRay device REQUIRES a Search Warrant, BEFORE it can be used, in a Criminal Investigation... This settles this in Case Law, unless the .GOV chooses to bring the Ruling to the Supreme Court... Any use of such a device MUST be disclosed in Discovery, AND a Valid Search Warrant Must be produced, or ANY Evidence Gained by such use becomes " Fruit of the Poisonious Tree" and can NOT be used in prosecution of a Case... YEA BABY, Finnally some 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment Protections of Personal Information...
I wasn't aware that the .gov type have have admitted to even owning one of these devices - let along to using one.... Be interesting to see if the LEO types institute any kind positive controls on the infernal thing.
The one thing I found VERY Interesting about the whole situation, is that Operation of such devices by ANYONE but a Cellular Company Employee, or Federal Agent, with the Correct Approval from the Office of Science & Technology, (WhiteHouse) is a Federal Felony, under the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.... These are CFR47Part 20 (Common Carrier) Devices and as such are Licensed to the Cellular Licensee Holder, and their Employees, by the FCC under the Cellular Station License, The FEDs do NOT get their Radio Privileges from the FCC, but thru the Office of Science & Technology, (WhiteHouse) and need to have their devices registered with that Office, and Approval for Usage, issued to their Agency... Any Other use is UnLicensed and a Direct Violation of the Comm Act... I have, in the past, let Defense Attorneys, know of these FACTs, and suggested to them that when they suspect Use of a Device, that they get the LEO, on the stand and Under Oath, and if he is a State or Local LEO, ask him under what License did he legally Operate the Device? That gets a BIG "HUH" from the LEO, and when the Defense states the relevant Federal Statutes, the Prosecution Immediately asks for a continuance, and then the case usually gets DROPPED, like a HOT Potato in Bare Hands... One case in Florida, where these questions were asked, and the continuance was over a weekend, a group of US Marshals raided the local Sheriffs Office, scooped up the device, and ALL the Records and DATA, and then Disappeared into the Sunset... In another case, it was a Federal Agency that used the device and when the Agent was asked, Under Oath, if his agency had a Permit, from the Office of Science & Technology, again a Continuance was granted, and the case was then dropped the next morning... There has been a repeating Pattern to these cases, where the Question was raised, until the DC Case in the Citation above, which was done in Federal Court, and appealed to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for DC, which handed down this Ruling... These agencies have been playing "Fast and Loose" with the Federal Statutes, and Administrative Rules of the Executive Branch, and NOW they are Busted, for GOOD, because they know that the Supreme Court would concur with the DC Court of Appeals... Especially with Justice Gorsuch sitting in the 9th Seat... It is about time.....
For those who don't know, a "StingRay Device" is a cell phone tracker. Used in Iraq to find/follow cell phones used by the enemy, it has come home and was (want to bet still IS?) used in at least 23 states to follow and harass honest citizens because that is much safer than going after criminals. As far as being illegal and keeping the crimina... er.... cops from using it, murder is illegal too and they don't seem to have much compunction about murdering honest citizens either. As far as they are concerned, whatever they want to do is "legal" until they get caught breaking the law.
The problem is that you just can't put the smoke back in a cigar or the Genie back in the bottle. I never envisioned the Forestry Service being issued automatic weapons but they got em in-case of mass grizzly or gopher attacks, so does the Postal Service because you never know when you might get swarmed by a herd of Pekinese or shitzu. Former HRT trainer friend said the only thing I ever heard that made any sense about it, "When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
