Stingray spying: FBI's secret deal with police hides phone dragnet from courts
Stingray spying: FBI's secret deal with police hides phone dragnet from courts
- Non-disclosure agreement in Florida reveals chain of secrecy across US
- Federal authorities maintain ‘totalitarian’ control over local law enforcement
- Read the document: seeking case dismissals at the request of the FBI
The FBI
is taking extraordinary and potentially unconstitutional measures to
keep local and state police forces from exposing the use of so-called
“Stingray” surveillance technology across the United States, according
to documents obtained separately by the Guardian and the American Civil
Liberties Union.
Multiple non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) revealed in Florida, New York and Maryland this week show federal authorities effectively binding local law enforcement from disclosing any information – even to judges – about the cellphone dragnet technology, its collection capabilities or its existence.
In an arrangement that shocked privacy advocates and local defense attorneys, the secret pact also mandates that police notify the FBI to push for the dismissal of cases if technical specifications of the devices are in danger of being revealed in court.
The agreement also contains a clause forcing law enforcement to notify the FBI if freedom of information requests are filed by members of the public or the media for such information, “in order to allow sufficient time for the FBI to seek to prevent disclosure through appropriate channels”.
The strikingly similar NDAs, taken together with documents connecting police to the technology’s manufacturer and federal approval guidelines obtained by the Guardian, suggest a state-by-state chain of secrecy surrounding widespread use of the sophisticated cellphone spying devices known best by the brand of one such device: the Stingray.
Two additional versions of similar Stingray NDAs – only with different county names – were obtained this week, one following a lawsuit against the Erie County sheriff’s office by the ACLU of West New York, and the other by a Baltimore defense attorney trying a city carjacking case.
An equipment grant authorization document obtained by the Guardian from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) states that local police must coordinate with the FBI to use Harris Corporation’s devices. “State and local law enforcement agencies must advance coordinate with the FBI the acquisition and use of the equipment authorized under this authorization,” the document states.
And similar NDAs have also been obtained – albeit in heavily redacted form – in Washington state and Minnesota.
“The dynamic we’re seeing is the federal government leaning heavily on local police,” ACLU staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler said. “Even departments who have said that they would like to be more transparent are being prevented from doing so by this agreement that they’re being forced to sign.”
The provision for pushing cases for dismissal rather than reveal information about Stingray capabilities and scope, he said, represented “the FBI’s consistent policy of making local police maintain extraordinary and extreme secrecy”.
Jacob, the law professor who has reviewed the pacts, said they were “interfering with the operation of the courts” and judges’ ability to evaluate whether a search and seizure involving Stingray technology is even constitutional under the fourth amendment. He said the NDA could also interfere with fair hearings, allowing some defendants to walk free while others are convicted on the basis of the evidence obtained with such devices.
“The defendant who finds out about this is able to get his case dismissed, and the other defendant can’t? That’s unfair.”
Multiple non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) revealed in Florida, New York and Maryland this week show federal authorities effectively binding local law enforcement from disclosing any information – even to judges – about the cellphone dragnet technology, its collection capabilities or its existence.
In an arrangement that shocked privacy advocates and local defense attorneys, the secret pact also mandates that police notify the FBI to push for the dismissal of cases if technical specifications of the devices are in danger of being revealed in court.
The agreement also contains a clause forcing law enforcement to notify the FBI if freedom of information requests are filed by members of the public or the media for such information, “in order to allow sufficient time for the FBI to seek to prevent disclosure through appropriate channels”.
The strikingly similar NDAs, taken together with documents connecting police to the technology’s manufacturer and federal approval guidelines obtained by the Guardian, suggest a state-by-state chain of secrecy surrounding widespread use of the sophisticated cellphone spying devices known best by the brand of one such device: the Stingray.
Two additional versions of similar Stingray NDAs – only with different county names – were obtained this week, one following a lawsuit against the Erie County sheriff’s office by the ACLU of West New York, and the other by a Baltimore defense attorney trying a city carjacking case.
An equipment grant authorization document obtained by the Guardian from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) states that local police must coordinate with the FBI to use Harris Corporation’s devices. “State and local law enforcement agencies must advance coordinate with the FBI the acquisition and use of the equipment authorized under this authorization,” the document states.
And similar NDAs have also been obtained – albeit in heavily redacted form – in Washington state and Minnesota.
“The dynamic we’re seeing is the federal government leaning heavily on local police,” ACLU staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler said. “Even departments who have said that they would like to be more transparent are being prevented from doing so by this agreement that they’re being forced to sign.”
The provision for pushing cases for dismissal rather than reveal information about Stingray capabilities and scope, he said, represented “the FBI’s consistent policy of making local police maintain extraordinary and extreme secrecy”.
Jacob, the law professor who has reviewed the pacts, said they were “interfering with the operation of the courts” and judges’ ability to evaluate whether a search and seizure involving Stingray technology is even constitutional under the fourth amendment. He said the NDA could also interfere with fair hearings, allowing some defendants to walk free while others are convicted on the basis of the evidence obtained with such devices.
“The defendant who finds out about this is able to get his case dismissed, and the other defendant can’t? That’s unfair.”