The Briefcases That Imitate Cell Phone Towers

The Stingray is a briefcase-size device manufactured by the Harris Corporation. The purpose of the Stingray is to imitate a cell-phone tower -- forcing all nearby phones to attempt to connect with it.

When phones do try to connect, the Stingray logs the information on that phone, everything from location information to the metadata that reveals what phone numbers you've been texting and calling. The Stingray was invented for use by the military, but recently local law-enforcement groups have started using the device -- a controversial move, and one that may not even be legal, according to a recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union. By law, Harris Corporation is required to apply for a permit to sell Stingray devices to law enforcement agencies with each new incarnation of this technology. And according to the ACLU’s investigation, the application the Federal Communications Commission accepted from the Harris Corporation -- the one that allows them to sell the Stingray to police departments -- may have contained seriously misleading language describing how the device would be used.