[Scan-DC] Secret US spy program targeted Americans' cellphones

[Rollin Coal]

Alan, finally others have noticed this troublesome phenomenon where
these so called news outlets report stories without checking with real
experts. The talking heads take this hook line and sinker and continue
to propagate incorrect information. 

I rarely believe the news stories anymore, they are more interested in
sensation news than the truth. 

On 2014-11-16 01:04, Alan Henney wrote: 

> My techie friends are telling me this is not done, not feasible, perhaps even impossible and likely incorrect.
> 
> Was the WSJ duped or intentionally misled by another high-dollar P.R. firm with an agenda?
> 
> It is troubling because so many American news outlets simply repeat what they read in the WSJ because it is such a trusted source.
> 
> Even the white shirt experts were on TV talking about it as fact.
> 
> What gives?
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Merlin
> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2014 7:55 PM
> To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Scan-DC] Secret US spy program targeted Americans' cellphones
> 
> Published November 13, 2014
> 
> The Wall Street Journal
> 
> The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of cellphones
> through fake communications towers deployed on airplanes, a high-tech
> hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging large number of innocent
> Americans, according to people familiar with the operations.
> 
> The U.S. Marshals Service program, which became fully functional around
> 2007, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area
> airports, with a flying range covering most of the U.S. population,
> according to people familiar with the program.
> 
> Planes are equipped with devices--some known as "dirtboxes" to
> law-enforcement officials because of the initials of the Boeing Co. unit
> that produces them--which mimic cell towers of large telecommunications
> firms and trick cellphones into reporting their unique registration
> information.
> 
> The technology in the two-foot-square device enables investigators to
> scoop data from tens of thousands of cellphones in a single flight,
> collecting their identifying information and general location, these
> people said.
> 
> People with knowledge of the program wouldn't discuss the frequency or
> duration of such flights, but said they take place on a regular basis.
> 
> A Justice Department official would neither confirm nor deny the
> existence of such a program. The official said discussion of such
> matters would allow criminal suspects or foreign powers to determine
> U.S. surveillance capabilities. Justice Department agencies comply with
> federal law, including by seeking court approval, the official said.
> 
> The program is the latest example of the extent to which the U.S. is
> training its surveillance lens inside the U.S. It is similar in approach
> to the National Security Agency's program to collect millions of
> Americans phone records, in that it scoops up large volumes of data in
> order to find a single person or a handful of people. The U.S.
> government justified the phone-records collection by arguing it is a
> minimally invasive way of searching for terrorists.
> 
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