14 DAY TRIAL // The Federal Bureau of Investigation made use of a fake Verzion cell phone tower to pinpoint the location of a hacker that was suspected of being the ringleader of a multi-million dollar identity theft operation.
According to Wired, the Feds utilized the device generically known as a stingray to track a wireless aircard used by Daniel David Rigmaiden, a 30-year-old who was allegedly involved in more that 1,900 fraudulent tax returns.
Authorities used a number of ways to locate the suspect, including video footage taken at a Verizon payment booth.
However, the real issue in this situation is related to the stingray. When such devices are deployed by law enforcement to monitor someone, they also intercept the wireless apparatus of innocent bystanders.
The FBI claims that there is no separate warrant needed for the tracking itself, since they already possessed a court order for utilizing Verizon's antenna.
Until now, the government argued that such devices don't violate the seclusion of individuals since they can't expect much privacy while sending data through wireless machines or cellphones. The case against Rigmaiden raised some concerns but so far nothing actually changed.
In an affidavit submitted by the FBI to the court, they claim that the stingray is merely a tracking device that's not able to modify any of the content on the machines it monitors.
“To comply with the legal definition of a pen register/tap and trace device, the equipment used in this case is unable to upload, encode or write any information on a target device,” reads the affidavit.
“If the equipment were capable of these functions, it would no longer be in compliance with the statutory definition of a pen register/tap and trace device. Therefore, the equipment used in this case is technologically unable to take any action to reprogram the hardware or software in the aircard or the defendant's laptop.”