Does the headline make you feel safer?
It shouldn’t.
Mohit Kumar highlights a new policy from the Justice Department in New Rules Require FBI to Get Warrant for Spying With ‘Stingrays’ Cell Phone Trackers that requires:
- warrants for use of “Stingrays” or “IMSI catchers”
- destruction of collected data when target found or once a day
- disclose annually the number of times stingrays were used
Mohit notes the policy has some truck-sized holes in it but, the policy is praised by some as a “step in the right direction.”
In order to feel safer, you must assume that federal agents are going to follow the new policy. I suggest you take a clue from Clapper openly lying to Congress and remaining unpunished for the odds of federal agents following this policy.
Some will, if you believe that Fox Mulder is an actual human being and not an actor in a television series.
If being tracked by cellphone is a serious issue for you, search for “Faraday cage” or “Faraday bag.” For the background principles, see: Faraday cage.
If having a working cellphone is an absolute requirement, bug cheap phones in bulk and make them single-use burner phones. One call in or out and its recycled. Insure that the accounts for the phones have no common characteristics such as purchaser, means of payment, place of purchase, sequence of numbers, etc.
Inconvenient but real security is by definition always inconvenient.
Otherwise, welcome to being tracked by:
- federal agents who don’t follow the new policy
- federal agents who find the loopholes in the policy
- state and local police who have no such policy
- private contractors
- DVs – digital vacuums who sweep up digital debris in high traffic areas to find something worth selling
Speaking of digital vacuums, when was the last time you called your mistress from an airport?
PS: I have never used Burner, which is an app that promises phone numbers you can discard and:
Once a number expires or is burned, the number is permanently removed from your account. Any unused voice minutes or text messages on an expired or burned number cannot be transferred to any new or existing Burners.
Please note: All call, SMS and voicemail history will also be removed from your account once a number expires.
One concern is whether if served with a national security letter, if Burner would capture your data prior to a number being burned?
Perhaps best for avoiding crazy ex-lovers, marketers, etc., and not more serious opponents.