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Thing is, these devices aren't exactly precise. Instead of targeting an individual phone, they broadcast their signal across a huge area, some up to nearly four square miles, potentially sweeping up the communications of thousands of people, many of whom presumably haven't committed any crime, nor activity that warrants mass surveillance.Sky News used a custom phone made by German security company GSMK Cryptophone to track symptoms of IMSI catchers as their journalist, Tom Cheshire, walked through the city. Lo and behold, there were plenty of red flags, but Cheshire didn't say how many Stingrays he possibly detected, nor where they were located.READ ON MOTHERBOARD: Surveillance AI Is Learning To Interpret Human BehaviorThe Guardian revealed that the Metropolitan Police had bought an IMSI catcher back in 2009 under the codename "Listed X," although the police force refused to admit this. Last year, I filed a Freedom of Information request asking for more details, and was met with a flat "neither confirm nor deny" response on whether the devices are held or used. More recently, the Times confirmed that the Met does use the devices, citing anonymous sources, and that the law used to cover their use was designed to regulate small-scale surveillance bugs, and dates back to 1997: hardly appropriate for something that can simultaneously monitor thousands.Rough range of Met Police's IMSI catcher if deployed near Parliament. 10km2. Indiscriminately suck up calls and texts — Joseph Cox (@josephfcox)October 25, 2014
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