I had not heard of this before but apparently the government has these devices called Stingrays which are able to create a fake cellphone tower. When a cellphone enters what I guess you would call a Stingray zone it is tricked into connecting to it. The government can then use this technology to locate the cellphone user.
I can see where under the right circumstances, and when using the proper procedure, this could be a legitimate law enforcement tool. However, according to this article the Florida police may have abused this technology by not getting a proper probable-cause warrant. The ACLU filed a FOIA request and were set to review the documents.
This is where the story gets interesting. Apparently just before the ACLU could review the documents Federal Marshals swarmed in and seized them.
Here is more:
A routine request in Florida for public records regarding the use of a surveillance tool known as stingray took an extraordinary turn recently when federal authorities seized the documents before police could release them.
The surprise move by the U.S. Marshals Service stunned the American Civil Liberties Union, which earlier this year filed the public records request with the Sarasota, Florida, police department for information detailing its use of the controversial surveillance tool.
The ACLU had an appointment last Tuesday to review documents pertaining to a case investigated by a Sarasota police detective. But marshals swooped in at the last minute to grab the records, claiming they belong to the U.S. Marshals Service and barring the police from releasing them.
The ACLU is not happy but apparently they are not surprised because this seems to be a pattern:
ACLU staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler called the move “truly extraordinary and beyond the worst transparency violations” the group has seen regarding documents detailing police use of the technology.
“This is consistent with what we’ve seen around the country with federal agencies trying to meddle with public requests for stingray information,” Wessler said, noting that federal authorities have in other cases invoked the Homeland Security Act to prevent the release of such records. “The feds are working very hard to block any release of this information to the public.”
So much for being the most open and honest administration in US history. It makes you wonder what the Feds are trying to hide…..
America's Watchtower 
Give credit where credit is due. Unlike the Waffen S.S. the Federal Marshals didn’t shoot anyone.
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I guess I should look at the bright side!
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I’ve seen several articles about the Stingray, here’s one link: http://cloakers.org/stingray-cell-tower/ (not my site). The news I’ve seen is the local cops getting these and using them without warrants, something that doesn’t bother the Feds. Now it looks like the Feds will back-up the local yokels by seizing FOIA documents… WTF.
Great blog, I really enjoy your views. ~ Jeff
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Jeff,
Welcome. This IS a great blog, with some smart, smart readers. Several of whom have their own blogs, in case you’re interested. I, of course, am part of neither group. I’m here to learn from others. 🙂
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Thanks Jeff, for the link and for the compliment. I will check it out. What you are saying is what I got from reading the article I used as well, the Feds and the locals seem to be in this together.
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Thanks Laura, you make me blush! :-*>
But don’t sell yourself short! 🙂
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Well, I can see my blushing emoticon didn’t work, now I am blushing again.
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One reason Obama has had so much success is that the entire spectrum of the left have circled their wagons and acted as one, while we on the right have worked to fight anyone on the right that isn’t perfect.
Like I said on another post, is this a sign that the left might start to splinter?
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Hopefully that will be the case. I think people are going to distance themselves from Obama and start to fall into the Hillary camp in order to set up the 2016 election.
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Thanks for the link Jeff. Let’s see how many Islamist terorist cells Obama and Holder uncover with their IT wizards at the controls of this technology. Only kidding, we all know Islam is a religion of peace. Doesn’t Obama always look serene and peaceful even when he’s lying?
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