FCC Said to Hold Meeting on Cellsite Simulators; ACLU, EFF Back Other Groups' Concerns
The FCC apparently held an all-hands meeting Friday for staff to decide how to proceed on complaints against cellsite simulators that authorities use for surveillance, industry officials told us. A day earlier, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a memorandum arguing the use of the simulators by police is widespread. They urged the FCC to issue an enforcement advisory to end the use of the simulators immediately. The agency didn't comment.
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ACLU and EFF supported a complaint filed by New America’s Open Technology Institute, Color of Change and the Center for Media Justice at the commission last month on Baltimore City Police Department use of the simulators (see 1608160044), also known as StingRays. The FCC said then it would review the complaint.
“Given the ongoing violations of the Communications Act by police departments in Baltimore and dozens of other cities around the country, the Enforcement Bureau should take action immediately,” Nathan Freed Wessler, ACLU staff attorney and author of the Thursday filing, told us. “The FCC should also consider issuing a notice of inquiry to solicit public input on what restrictions and protections should be included in any regulations addressing state and local law enforcement’s use of cell site simulators.” The NOI could explore what happens after there's an enforcement action, especially if law enforcement presses for licensing rules, Wessler said.
The ACLU/EFF filing “sheds even more light on the use and abuse of cell-site simulators by local police departments and underscores the need for swift FCC action,” said Eric Null, policy counsel at OTI. “FCC enforcement investigations are not public, but this filing provides further reason for the FCC to crack down on the illegal use of these devices.” Null said he spoke on behalf of OTI only and not the coalition that brought the earlier complaint.
The Baltimore department isn't alone, the ACLU and EFF said in the filing. “Dozens of police departments across the country, from Boston to San Diego and from Anchorage to Miami, have used cell site simulators for years, but have shrouded their acquisition and use of the technology in great secrecy, thereby avoiding effective oversight by local lawmakers, judges, and the public,” they said. “Only with transparency and oversight can the privacy and integrity of Americans’ cellular communications be protected.”
The New York Police Department used cellsite simulators more than 1,000 times over seven years, and in Tacoma, Washington, StingRays were used more than 170 times in five years, the ACLU and EFF said. In Tallahassee, Florida, the police department used cellsite simulators to track 277 phones over a nearly seven-year period, the groups said. Police use the devices “with great frequency, for a wide array of non-emergency purposes, and under a veil of extraordinary secrecy that is ripe for discriminatory abuse,” the filing said.
The use of the simulators violates provisions of the Communications Act, ACLU and EFF said. "Because state and local law enforcement agencies do not hold FCC licenses to operate cell site simulators over the wireless spectrum, and because the technology interferes with cellular communications, use of the devices by state and local authorities violates Sections 301 and 333,” they said. “The technology is widely and frequently used by state and local law enforcement agencies across the country in violation of the law, however.” The Baltimore Police Department said it doesn't comment on such issues.