US Spies on Mobile Phones from the Sky: Wall Street Journal

Local Editor

US war officials are scooping up mobile phone data from unwitting Americans as part of a sophisticated airborne surveillance program that is said to be designed to catch criminals, the Wall Street Journal reported.

US Spies on Mobile Phones from the Sky: Wall Street Journal

The range of aircraft in the program covers most of the US population, the Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the operation.

Small aircraft deployed by the US Marshals Service from at least five major airports have been taking to the skies with "dirtbox" equipment designed to mimic signals from cell towers, according to the Journal.
That in turn tricks mobile phones into revealing identifying numbers and general locations, according to the report.

The US War Department meanwhile declined to comment for the story other than to say that its agencies comply with the law when it comes to surveillance, the Journal reported.

Furthermore, details of flights were not given, but they were said to take place regularly with each outing potentially gathering data from tens of thousands of mobile phones.

After sifting through data collected, investigators could determine the location of a targeted mobile phone to within about three meters, the report indicated.

The program is reportedly in place to reveal locations of mobile phones associated with criminals or those suspected of crimes, but collect data about other handsets that connect, according to the Journal.

The Journal further quoted American Civil Liberties Union chief technologist Christopher Soghoian as calling the program "dragnet surveillance" that is "inexcusable."

Trust in US authorities has already been shaken by revelations about a sweeping Internet surveillance program.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team