Senate wants more answers from feds about fake cell towers, other devices that collect smartphone data

The Senate Judiciary Committee wants more answers about law enforcement agencies across the country deploying surveillance technology, including trick cellphone towers, that gather cellphone data, according to a letter obtained Thursday by FoxNews.com

The bipartisan letter was sent to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, following a recent FBI policy change regarding search warrants that committee leaders say raises questions about privacy protections and how the equipment was used.

Among the tools singled out in the letter is a Stingray, a device that pretends it is a cellphone tower and tricks cellphones into identifying some of their owners' account information.

In addition, the U.S. Marshal Service is deploying an airborne device -- called a “DRT box” or “dirtbox” -- from five metropolitan-area airports across the United States that also “mimic standard cell towers, forcing affected cell phones to reveal their approximate location and registration information,” the Dec. 23 letter states.

“It remains unclear how other agencies within the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security make use of cell-site simulators and what policies are in place to govern their use of that technology,” states the letter from Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, reported first by The Associated Press.

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