A professor from MIT has proposed a new idea for trying to track gunshots and that's by using stingray surveillance equipment in order to do it.
The MIT prof, John Winston, is said to have secured the patent for a device that would be able to work by triggering stingray tools in the area where it's believed a gun has been shot.
Current methods used are said to involve using microphones and sensors that are attached to utility poles or street lights and they also use witness accounts in order to confirm that a shot did go off.
But the new method of using the stingray would instead trigger the activation of the surveillance spying tools and then try to identify any related mobile communications to the event.
These devices are said to be able to affect any phone that is within 200-500 meter radius.
Stingray devices have received harsh criticism from civil liberties advocates for many years now because of the somewhat secretive way that police departments go about using the technology. For example, a number of police departments have been sued for their neglect to be wholly forthcoming with information about their use of stingray technology.
Police departments in New Mexico, Chicago, California, Washington, and other areas,have all received lawsuits in relation to their stingray use and records.
It's estimated that in the last decade or so, police departments across the US have gone about using stingrays on at least 4,000 or more different occasions.
Legal experts and civil liberties advocates want to be sure that these tools are being used in the right way and that law enforcement are going about following the proper standards (obtaining warrants etc) before they use this technology to spy on the private information of the public.
Aside from invading privacy, there are also concerns that the technology might be disrupting service for cellphone customers.
Just last year, multiple US senators asked the FCC to launch an investigation into the matter in order to find out if that was the case, if the use of stingray technology by various law enforcement agencies was disrupting any possible cellphone service and 911 calls. This comes after law enforcement officials have previously admitted that the use of stingrays in-fact does disrupt cell service.
The stringray devices are highly efficient at sweeping up private data about every phone within the vicinity and private citizens should be protected from any unreasonable searches and seizures of their belongings and communications etc. So long as various police departments continue to use this controversial technology, we can expect that the lawsuits and criticism will continue. The public wants to be sure that police departments are using this technology in a smart way and if that is the case then you'd think that they shouldn't have any problem with being forthcoming about their use of it.
Pics:
Getty Images
Dave Croy/ The World Herald via omaha.com
EFF
Pixabay
Sources:
https://www.scmagazine.com/proposed-gunshot-detector-automatically-triggers-stingrays/article/673647/
https://www.wired.com/2015/03/feds-admit-stingrays-can-disrupt-cell-service-bystanders/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/fcc-created-stingray-problem-now-it-needs-fix-it
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/12/long-secret-stingray-manuals-detail-how-police-can-spy-on-phones/
https://www.eff.org/files/2016/10/06/senate_letter_to_fcc_on_stingray_devices.pdf
https://www.revealnews.org/article/california-increases-scrutiny-of-cellphone-surveillance/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/stingrays-biggest-unknown-technological-threat-cell-phone-privacy