Stingray Sting? Chicago Police Fighting to Keep Cell Phone Surveillance Secret
“Surveillance like this has a chilling effect on free speech and dissent, especially when considered in light of the history of illegal political surveillance by the Chicago Police Department and misconduct that has led to far too many false convictions,” Topic said. “People are less willing to speak out against government corruption and wrongdoing when they fear that government is monitoring their location, their associations and their speech.
“Theoretically, there could be legitimate uses for this equipment, but there are serious constitutional concerns if warrants aren’t being obtained and if the equipment also takes cellphone information from the hundreds or thousands of other people in the vicinity of purportedly legitimate targets.”
So far, the city has provided Martinez with records disclosing that the Chicago Police Department paid Harris Corp. more than $340,000 between 2005 and 2010 for StingRay, KingFish and Superdog devices, as well as software upgrades and training.
The police department also obtained a quote from Harris last year to refurbish cellphone tracking systems, upgrade software and provide training for $252,000, but it’s unclear whether the city went ahead with that purchase.
More: Chicago Police Fighting to Keep Cellphone Trackers Secret
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