You know what Disneyland, the US military, and the police in Anahein, USA have in common? Strangely, the answer is that communicating with any of the three could result in a breach of your privacy. monitoring incoming communications your smartphone.
Documents recently uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in California show that police in Anahein County, where Disney’s amusement park is located, have been using an invasive cell phone spying device for the past few years. Known as the “Dirtbox”, the device is a military-grade technology described as “stingray on steroids.”
Such a device can emulate a base station and thereby obtain the location of devices within its range and intercept calls and text messages. In addition to being more powerful than Stingrays, Dirtbox can be used directly from small aircraft, significantly increasing the number of people affected by tracking.
multiple victims
According to information on the Reveal website, a DRTBox device can “break the encryption of hundreds of people’s communications simultaneously”. According to the page, a 2011 purchase order by one of the Pentagon divisions could reveal that these devices were able to recover cell phone session encryption keys with up to 75% success in less than 1 second.
In addition to Anahein police officers, many US law enforcement agencies are known to use such devices, including the FBI, Customs, DEA, and Border Patrol, among others. “If a city with only a few hundred thousand [de habitantes] Having that kind of arsenal raises questions about what similar U.S. states might have,” says ACLU attorney Matt Cagle.
According to the Anahein Police request for funding, “several cities in Orange County [uma região da Califórnia] It took advantage of the DRT device”, which means that the scope of the spy tool is wide enough to reach other municipalities. In addition, this allows us to assume that the millions of tourists who pass through Disneyland on a daily basis may also be victims of an invasion of privacy.
Who is watching the audience?
Recently, the California government passed a law requiring police to have a permit before using Dirtboxes, Stingrays, or other electronic tracking tools. However, that order didn’t come into effect until January 1, 2016, and it’s unclear whether Anahein police awaited permission to use the device before then.
In an email to Ars Technica, FBI agent Christopher Allen said he couldn’t comment on investigative techniques or tools that may have been used in certain situations, but he was confident that everything was done in accordance with the laws in effect at the time. That way, you can have peace of mind the next time you go to Disneyland – as long as you don’t do anything that might seem suspicious, of course.
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Source: Tec Mundo
