
EFF and ACLU Expose Government’s Secret Stingray Use in Wisconsin Case - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/eff-and-aclu-expose-governments-secret-stingray-use-wisconsin-case
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jrapdx3
The article convincingly describes some rather underhanded behavior by federal
law enforcement appearing to violate 4th Amendment rights. Of course it's hard
to empathize with criminals, well, because of their crimes. At the same time
it's not hard to want to protect the rights of the people from overzealous
police. It would be ideal for attorneys and other experts to comment on this
case.

As portrayed in the article, an appellate court decision that the use of
"Stringrays" _requires a warrant before_ they are deployed would be a step in
the right direction. I think there should be more restrictions on technologies
that can grab thousands of communications at a time.

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throwaway_xx9
> Of course it's hard to empathize with criminals, well, because of their
> crimes.

The accused in the American justice system is allowed a defense. Empathy has
nothing to do with that right.

Most people who are "criminals" were not convicted - they were plea-bargained.
And many of those found guilty at trial were in fact innocent of any crime.

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beedogs
It also kind of depends on the crime. I would have less of an issue with these
sorts of devices being used in, say, a kidnapping investigation, than I would
if they were used to catch street-level drug dealers.

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nfncnchf
Let's not kid ourselves: between secret courts, tampering with investigative
records, and institutionalized torture (now even of US citizens), we really
are not much better than the USSR at this point.

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chongli
_we really are not much better than the USSR at this point_

Oh really? I guess I must've missed the part where over 10 million Americans
starved to death under a program of forced collectivisation and a million more
were killed by the secret police in a program of repression.

Yeah, I didn't think so. The US government has done enough to criticize
already without resorting to hyperbolic statements like that. It totally
cheapens your argument.

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uxp
The defendant was out on parole, and had an arrest warrant issued for some
other violation of his parole, and while sitting in a vehicle in the passenger
seat, a weapon was at his feet. That's the entire context of this. A cop
happened upon this vehicle and had "prior knowledge" that the defendant was in
the car according to the police report [0]. I don't think he's even arguing
that he had violated his parole, but that the cops are just flat out lying on
how they found him.

Sure, parole violations are bad, but this is just petty, run-of-the-mill
arrests they are using stingrays on.

[0]
[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2698299-12-1.html](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2698299-12-1.html)

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rasz_pl
At first its criminals riding around with a gun on their lap, but soon you
will get a cop visit at work because cell site simulator detected you blowing
10mph past speed limit on some back road few days ago.

