House to begin inquiry into ‘Stingray’ spying devices

 The insidious little cellphone spying devices known as Stingrays first came to light when a Florida police department was accused of abusing them back in June of 2014. I would say Stingrays are abused simply by using them because what these devices do is create a fake cellphone tower. When a person enters the Stingray zone his or her phone will be automatically connected to the device and information can be gleaned from the person’s cellphone, naturally this means all phones in the area and not just the phone of a suspect in a crime. 

  But a funny thing happened just before the ACLU was allowed to review the documents under a FOIA request in the aforementioned case: Federal Marshals rushed in and seized all the documents.

  That seems pretty strange doesn’t it? What were the Feds trying to protect? Maybe now we are beginning to see a clue because it now looks as if the use of these devices is widespread in the Federal government. On October 26th we learned the IRS, yes the IRS, was actually using these devices for some unknown reason. And it was also learned at least 12 other agencies are using the devices to spy on American citizens.

  This has finally caught the attention of the Oversight Committee and it has sent a letter to every government agency asking whether or not they are using this technology to spy on the American people. Here is more:

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is demanding to know how widespread the use of warrantless surveillance is within the Obama administration, after it became known that the Internal Revenue Service has quietly been using “cell-site simulator” technology to collect data from unsuspecting people.

In a Monday letter to all 24 federal agencies, the leaders of the House Oversight Committee said it wants to know which other agencies are using this technology, commonly known as “Stingray” technology that poses as cell phone towers. It was spearheaded by committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, R-Md.

  A tersely worded letter is just what is needed when our Constitutional rights are being violated, I am sure they are quaking in their boots as I write this! If that does not work perhaps they will taunt them a second time. (Monty Python)

  I would imagine this is just the opening salvo in what will eventually become an investigation into the use of these devices but at this time it is hard to take any investigation serious because I believe they are dog and pony shows being put on for the voters in an attempt to make it look as though there is real opposition. And does anyone not think the Republicans would not want to have this power if they somehow manage to ever gain power again…

 malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium