opentechinstitute

As mentioned by Laura, local law enforcement usually has to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the FBI agreeing not to publicly discuss Stingray use. In an article last year, the FBI claimed that the agreements apparently do not prevent officers from disclosing a Stingray's use in a court case, but that's not what the agreements actually say.

Thanks for the question. The BPD has so far refused to comment. The FCC responded in this article, but we have not heard a more thorough response actually explaining why this is not a blatant violation of law and FCC rules.

We have not heard anything from the wireless industry. We would expect that they would care about the unlawful use of their wireless spectrum. They cared in previous circumstances, such as cell signal boosters.

There are a couple of things to do. The easiest is that you can sign the petitions or engage with your local government to ask for better transparency on police tech in general. There also seem to be many city council meetings coming up on stingray use. The biggest thing you can do is show that you care about it and are concerned.

I think "FBI Surveillance Van 1" is fine, that's probably just your clever neighbor. I'd watch out for "FBI Surveillance Van 2" or "FBI Surveillance Van 3."