Stop Stingray Surveillance

Stop Stingray Surveillance

against stingray surveillance

  Put a stop to invasive Stingray surveillance

Stingrays (also known as “IMSI-catchers”) are surveillance devices that can suck up sensitive, personal info in our cell phones. Calls, emails, and texts – our most intimate moments.1

You don’t have to do anything wrong to be a victim. Stingrays CAN’T target one person. They CAN vacuum up an entire neighbourhood, or the private data of up to 10,000 people at once.2

We know they’re being used in countries including the U.S.3 and Australia,4 and other governments are fighting to keep their use a secret.5, 6 We must rein this in. Tell law-makers: It’s time to put a stop to invasive Stingray cellphone surveillance.

Read the full petition here

We are calling on law-makers around the world to implement safeguards protecting innocent individuals from invasive cell phone surveillance from Stingrays (also known as IMSI-catchers).

Law enforcement agencies around the world are increasingly using Stingray technologies to engage in secret, invasive, mass surveillance of cell phone data. We need strong, genuinely transparent, and properly enforced protections to secure privacy rights in an age of ubiquitous mobile phone technology.

The use of Stingrays should comply with the Necessary and Proportionate International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, and should respect our reasonable expectation of privacy, as protected under Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Thank you.

[Your Name Here]

This campaign is hosted by BCCLA, the Center for Media Justice, OpenMedia, Pivot Legal Society and The Nation. Find our respective privacy policies here, here, here, here and here.

Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using Stingray technologies for invasive and irresponsible surveillance of the most intimate personal information found on your cell phone – without your knowledge.

These invasive tools are already being used in secret by law enforcement in select cities7,8 and countries around the world,9,10,11 and we need to stop them before their use becomes even more commonplace.

When used, Stingrays can invade the personal conversations of anyone, at anytime, and you’ll never know if your security has been compromised or which intimate moments have been revealed.

We need to take action. It’s time to hold law enforcement agencies accountable and demand transparency. We demand oversight, accountability, and judicial safeguards to ensure our right to privacy is respected.

We have a right to our privacy and security. When governments violate these rights, our most basic intimate moments are violated, and our safety, security and trust are all put in jeopardy.

Government oversight officials are starting to wake up,12 but they’ll only stop Stingrays if we speak out now. Stop Stingrays from invading your cell phone.

Are Stingrays being used in your country?

Australia

Police scoop up data on thousands in mobile phone 'tower dumps' to track down criminals. Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

  • Special investigation: Bugged, tracked, hacked. Source: Channel 9.

  • Spyware for sale: Hacking Team leaks show Australian companies scrambling to cash in on Government surveillance contracts. Source: ABC.

Canada

  • Someone is spying on cell phones in the nation's capital. Source: CBC News

  • Canada's national police force officially confirms ownership, use of Stingray devices. Source: Techdirt

  • Gone Opaque: An analysis of hypothetical IMSI Catcher overuse in Canada. Source: Citizen Lab and the Telecom Transparency Project

  • Government use of surveillance devices must be restricted: privacy experts. Source: Globe and Mail

  • Privacy watchdog to investigate RCMP over alleged ‘stingray’ cellphone surveillance. Source: Toronto Star.

  • Surveillance device used in prison sets off police probe. Source: Globe and Mail.

  • RCMP fight to keep lid on high-tech investigation tool. Source: Globe and Mail.

  • The cell phone spyware the police don’t want to acknowledge. Source: Toronto Star.

  • Vancouver police refuse to disclose use of covert cell spy tech. Source: Global News.

  • Are StingRay cellphone surveillance systems used by Vancouver police? Source: CBC.  

France

  • France has adopted in July 2015 the possibility for the intelligence services to use IMSI Catchers with a very weak oversight. Source: Recode.net

Germany

  • Behind the curve: When will the UK stop pretending IMSI catchers don't exist? Source: Privacy International.

India

  • Indian intelligence officers started importing 927 IMSI catchers in 2005. Source: Citizen Lab.

Ireland

  • Beirtear na IMSIs: Ireland’s GSOC surveillance inquiry reveals use of mobile phone interception systems. Source: Privacy International.

Libya

  • Jamming Tripoli: Inside Moammar Gadhafi’s Secret Surveillance Network. Source: Wired.    

South Africa

  • How cops and crooks can 'grab' your cellphone - and you. Source: Mail & Guardian.

United Kingdom

  • In a first, UK authority admits to using IMSI Catchers for surveillance. Source: Motherboard

  • Prisoners outwit £1.2m mobile phone blocking system. Source: The Ferret

  • Phone hackers: Britain’s secret surveillance. Source: Vice.

  • Fake mobile phone towers operating in the UK. Source: Sky News.

  • Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones. Source: The Guardian.
     

United States

  • Map – Stingray tracking devices: Who's got them? Source: ACLU.

  • Activists say Chicago police used ‘Stingray’ eavesdropping technology during protests. Source: CBS Chicago.

  • Boston police promise to release information on cellphone trackers. Source: New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

  • NYPD has used Stingrays more than 1,000 times since 2008. Source: NYCLU.

  • FBI says search warrants not needed to use “stingrays” in public places. Source: Ars Technica.

  • Memphis mayor ushers in new era of transparency by refusing to discuss city's Stingray devices. Source: Techdirt.

  • Is Big Brother after Black Lives Matter? Source: Daily Beast.

  • US Marshals spent $10m on equipment for warrantless Stingray surveillance. Source: The Guardian. 

*Is your country not listed above, but you know Stingrays are in use? Submit it here.

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The Stop Stingray Surveillance campaign is hosted and supported by:

The Stop Stingray Surveillance campaign is supported by the following organizations. 
Your organization can sign on here.

Footnotes:

[1] What is a Stingray and why should I care? Source: OpenMedia.
[2] The Secret Surveillance Catalogue. Source: The Intercept.
[3], [11] Stingray Tracking Devices: Who's Got Them? Source: ACLU.
[4] Spyware for sale: Hacking Team leaks show Australian companies scrambling to cash in on Government surveillance contracts. Source: ABC.
[5] RCMP fight to keep lid on high-tech investigation tool. Source: Globe and Mail.
[6] Vancouver police refuse to disclose use of covert cell spy tech. Source: Global News.
[7] New York Police Have Used Stingrays Widely, New Documents Show. Source: The Intercept.  
[8] Police secretly track cellphones to solve routine crimes. Source: USA Today.
[9] France Has a Powerful and Controversial New Surveillance Law. Source: Recode.net.
[10] Behind the curve: When will the UK stop pretending IMSI catchers don't exist? Source: Privacy International.  
[12] No, Turning On Your Phone Is Not Consenting to Being Tracked by Police. Source: The Intercept.

 

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