On Monday, the Arizona Senate unanimously passed a bill, SB1342, that would ban the use of “stingrays” to track the location of phones and sweep up electronic communications without a warrant in most situations. The proposed law would not only protect privacy in Arizona, but would also hinder one aspect of the federal surveillance state, according to the Tenth Amendment Center.
Cell site simulators, known as “stingrays” essentially spoof cell phone towers, tricking any device within range into connecting to the stingray instead of the tower, allowing law enforcement to sweep up communications content, as well as locate and track the person in possession of a specific phone or other electronic device.
SB1342 would require police to get a search warrant based on probable cause before deploying a stingray to locate or track an electronic device. It would also require law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant under existing wiretapping statutes before using a stingray to intercept, obtain or access the content of any stored oral, wire or electronic communication.
[Read more from the Tenth Amendment Center here]
Arizona Senate Fact Sheet for SB1342:
Purpose
Establishes procedures for issuing warrants for cell site simulators and tracking devices.
Background
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” When a search is undertaken by law enforcement officials to discover evidence of criminal wrongdoing, reasonableness generally requires the obtaining of a judicial warrant (Vernonia School Dist. 47J v. Acton, 115 S. Ct. 2386 (1995)).
In Arizona, a search warrant will not be issued by a magistrate unless there is probable cause, supported by an affidavit, naming or describing the person and particularly describing the property to be seized and the place to be searched (A.R.S. § 13-3913). An officer must execute a search warrant within five calendar days after its issuance and must return the warrant to a magistrate within three court business days (A.R.S. § 13-1918). If the search warrant is not served within that time or is not extended by a magistrate, the warrant is void. Additionally, if any property is taken under the warrant, the officer must provide a detailed receipt for the seized property to the person from whom it was taken or in whose possession it was found (A.R.S. § 13- 3919). If property was not taken from a person, the officer must leave the receipt at the place where the property was found. The court may delay service of the receipt under specified circumstances, but not to exceed 10 days. (A.R.S. § 13-3919).
In U.S. v. Jones (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the attachment of a GPS tracking device to a vehicle and utilizing the device to monitor the vehicle’s movement on public streets constitutes a search or seizure within the Fourth Amendment (U.S. v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012)). Therefore, law enforcement must obtain a search warrant from a judge or magistrate prior to using a GPS tracking device.
Cell-site simulators (simulators) are utilized by law enforcement to either: 1) locate cellular devices whose unique identifiers are already known by law enforcement; or 2) to determine the unique identifiers of an unknown device by collecting signaling information from devices in the simulator’s vicinity (U.S. Department of Justice Policy Guidance). Simulators function like a cell tower and collect signaling information from non-targeted devices in the suspect’s vicinity in order to distinguish the suspect’s device. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), simulators provide only the relative signal strength and general direction of a subject’s cellular phone and may not be used to collect the contents of any communication in accordance with federal law (18 U.S.C. § 3127(3)).