Judge throws out Florida phone spying case after Federal Marshals seize the documents
This is a quick update to this story which I wrote about on June 4th.
First, a quick summary: the ACLU was set to view documents under a FOIA request which were related to the Florida Police Department’s use of a device called a Stingray. A Stingray is a device which can set up a fake cellphone tower and trick cellphones into connecting to it. Once this link is established the police can then use this technology to locate the user, read texts, and listen in as well. The ACLU was concerned that the police were not getting a proper probable-cause warrant and on the very day they were to review the documents Federal Marshals raided the police department and seized all the documents using the Homeland Security Act as justification.
Now for the update but it should not surprise you.
Today a Florida judge was forced to throw out the case because the court has no authority over the Federal government. The ACLU is not pleased and has vowed to get to these documents:
“I can guarantee you that we will move to unseal them and we also are evaluating our options in terms of appealing the judge’s decision because we never had an opportunity to address a critical factual issue in his ruling,” Barfield said in an Ars Technica report, alleging that because the records were held in a state police department, they fall under state jurisdiction as opposed to federal.
Florida’s ACLU Vice President Michael Barfield went on to say:
“When the government goes to such lengths to keep the public in the dark about its warrantless spying on citizens, then the requirement that courts approve of government searches is rendered pointless,” Barfield said in an e-mail. “Both the federal and local governments need to respect open records laws so the public knows what police are doing in their name.”
The Federal government is going to extraordinary measures to make sure this information is kept from the American people and apparently this is not the only case involving Stingray type devices across the nation. It makes you wonder what the Federal government wants to keep from the American people and how deep this spying truly goes.
So much for the most open, honest, and transparent administration in United States history…..
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America's Watchtower 
Reblogged this on Brittius.
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Thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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Reblogged this on Dead Citizen's Rights Society.
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Thank you.
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It seems that anytime something starts out for ‘good’ it’s falls under ruin and used for the opposite. What a ‘wacky’ deal! I thought ACLU was more for this ‘controlling rule’ – I guess it’s a different story when it can come against you rather than work for your good.
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Every once in awhile the ACLU gets one right. This is one time.
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Strange days indeed when we now champion the ACLU. Did I ever think our destiny would come to this?
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I know! Every once in awhile the ACLU gets one right and this appears to be one of those times.
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Not just “every now and then,” but this is certainly a case of the ACLU hitting a home run to deep center field and having it ruled a foul ball.
I’m not at all certain that this trend is solely a product of the Obama administrationbut I think the reasons the two parties willingly violate the people’s rights are different – I think the Dems do so primarily to protect a greater common good, and then allow themselves to be corrupted by the power that gives them, while the GOP does so primarily to protect the interests of the jaw-droppingly affluent, and then allow themselves to be corrupted by the power that gives them.
There’s another aspect to this. Remember a while back, there was a CBS News report about Al-Quaeda, and in the report an American official told the reporter that we were able to keep good track of AQ leaders simply by monitoring their cell phone use? Did you know that about fifteen minutes after that aired, AQ changed its use of cell phones, finding other means of communication or using disposable phones on a one-time basis? WHAT IF the information being collected by these stingray devices really is valuable, but exposing it in the press turned out to alert the bad guys and incentivize them to change the way they communicate?
Take good care, and may God bless us all!
TGY
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This is a problem with both sides of the aisle and it started with the PATRIOT Act. I disagree with your assertion that Democrats violate our rights solely for good intentions (IRS scandal?) and that Republicans do this for more nefarious reasons, however the reasons why they violate our rights is really a moot point because in the end they are still violating our rights. And that is what is most important; both sides become corrupted with power and that is why so few in the Congress are standing up against this–because they do not oppose it, they want to be the ones controlling it.
In my first post on this issue I mention that there were legitimate reasons for using this technology as long as the proper procedures were followed. As I understand it the ACLU was trying to make sure this was the case, they are not trying to “out” valuable technology or information.
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