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Government planes mimic cellphone towers to collect user data
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)


The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers), November 14, 2014
Posted: November 23rd, 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/14/government-plan...

The US justice department is reportedly using electronic equipment on aircraft to simulate cellphone towers so it can collect phone location and identifying information on a mass scale from users on the ground below. The US Marshals Service has for seven years flown Cessna aircraft ... that mimic cellular towers, permitting the collection of thousands of unique IDs and location data from users. The planes operate from at least five metropolitan airports, permitting a flying range covering most of the US population. [This] indiscriminate collection would permit ... justice department agencies to avoid having to seek records from the phone companies themselves, especially in criminal investigations where a court order may be required. The legal basis for the previously undisclosed program is unclear. It is not reportedly a national security or counterterrorism program. Michael German, a former FBI agent now with New York University Law School, said: The governments attitude seems to be if it can, it should, without regard to the violation of Americans rights, so long as nobody knows. This program is being kept secret so that the thousands of innocent Americans whose data is being collected improperly wont complain. We shouldnt have to just trust that the government will handle the data it intercepts about our communications properly.

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