BREAKING- 'Stingray' surveillance devices: what we know now
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- Published on Friday, 12 August 2016 09:45
- Written by editor
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Dear friends,
Moments ago Motherboard reported that the Edmonton Police Service has confirmed their usage of the controversial surveillance device known as a “Stingray”.
This revelation follows hot on the heels of BCCLA's own blog post from earlier this week detailing the fact that, after YEARS of frustrating back and forth, Vancouver Police have finally released some information on their own use of the mass surveillance device.
Enough.
We are calling for transparency, regulation, and accountability; and we need your help.
Please donate today to support our work to protect Canadians against the abusive or illegitimate use of this powerful surveillance tool.
“Stingrays”, also known as “IMSI Catchers”, are devices that mimic cell phone towers to trick nearby mobile devices into revealing the phone’s location, texts, emails, and even voice conversations.
When asked about their use of the devices, the most common refrain from local police departments has been to 'neither confirm nor deny' their existence.
“That these police departments refused to comment is what we’ve come to understand as the norm,” said BCCLA Policy Director Micheal Vonn. “In a way, Edmonton should be congratulated for their candor.”
That is not the standard of transparency and accountability that Canadians deserve.
These are mass surveillance devices which undoubtedly can have legitimate policing uses, but which must be appropriately constrained to avoid abuse.
Our Charter right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure requires the prevention of unjustified searches BEFORE they happen. For that, we need transparency and regulation.
Together we can make that happen. Please chip in today to help us do this work.
Sincerely,
Charlotte Kingston, Director of Community Engagement
and the BCCLA team
P.S. If you haven't seen it yet, check out our Policy Director Micheal Vonn explaining this issue in her two recent blog posts on Stingrays. Here's Blog #1 from a few weeks ago, and this week's Blog #2.
P.P.S. For even more info, check out the story that broke the news at Motherboard , and today's coverage in The Guardian newspaper.
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