Alert: Look Out for "Dirt Boxes," They're Stealing Your Information
Should government agencies be able to collect information from your digital devices without your knowledge?
They may have already done it — especially if you live in Texas.
The Texas National Guard reportedly spent almost than $400,000 to install cell phone spying devices on its RC-26 military surveillance aircraft, the Texas Observer reported.
DRT devices, or dirt boxes, mimic cell phone towers. Their signals are strong enough to force dormant mobile phones within a short range to automatically switch over to them.
Similar to stingray devices, DRT devices can locate up to 10,000 targets and can process multiple digital wireless and analog devices at the same time. They collect information such as a user’s location, text messages, and photos. They can also collect digital voice data, according to The Intercept.
These kinds of devices can record and listen to calls in real time. They can even block phones from sending and receiving calls.
The worst part about all of this information gathering is that users may never know it has happened.
Because law enforcement agencies often sign nondisclosure agreements, it is impossible to know how widespread the use of such devices are. However, the ACLU has identified 24 states where law enforcement use cell tower simulators. So citizens in about half the U.S. states may have been targeted without knowing it.
Law enforcement agencies are reportedly using the devices in narcotics investigations, but there is little doubt that the boxes gather information from innocent citizens as well.
Stephanie Lacambra, a criminal defense staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explained why citizens should be worried about these devices.
“They indiscriminately gather information on countless innocent people who have the misfortune of being in the vicinity of a suspect target,” she told The American Conservative.
Lacambra added that she was skeptical that the boxes were only being used in narcotics investigations
“I am skeptical that they are being limited to that use. I think it is reasonable to suspect that these cell site simulators are being deployed as tools in general domestic criminal and immigration investigations along the border and throughout the state of Texas monitored by the National Guard,” she said.
Lacambra, as well as other concerned citizens, should be skeptical — and concerned — about privacy issues.
To make matters worse, Lacambra said that current policies regarding devices like dirt boxes “carry no enforcement mechanisms to punish law enforcement for violating the terms of the policy.”
For the moment, the deck seems stacked against citizens, who have no way of knowing if their information has been collected or stored.
H/T TheBlaze
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