US spying goes a step further with data-collecting plane

Washington: Planes equipped with fake cell phone-tower devices or “dirtboxes” are being used to scan thousands of cell phones to collect data from criminal suspects’.

The US Marshals Service program, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area airports, with a flying range covering most of the US population, according to a report on Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.

Devices aboard those planes essentially trick the suspects’ cell phones into thinking they’re connecting to legitimate cell towers from big wireless carriers like Verizon or AT&T, allowing the feds to scoop up personal data and location information about those targeted.

But the report goes on to say that the Justice Department collects data from “tens of thousands” of people in a single flight, including non-suspects. This makes it another example of how Americans are constantly watched by its government.

Earlier the NSA’s program to collect millions of Americans phone records had shocked its citizens. The government was however quick to justify it as a small price to pay for countering terrorism.  

Interestingly the WSJ report said that even having encryption on a phone, such as the kind included on Apple Inc.’s iPhone 6, doesn’t prevent the process.

The technology is aimed at locating cell phones linked to individuals under investigation by the government, including fugitives and drug dealers. The device determines which phones belong to suspects and “lets go” of the non-suspect phones.

The device can briefly interrupt calls on certain phones. Authorities have tried to minimise the potential for harm, including modifying the software to ensure the fake tower doesn’t interrupt anyone calling 911 for emergency help.

The program is more sophisticated than anything previously understood about government use of such technology. Until now, the hunting of digital trails created by cell phones had been thought limited to devices carried in cars that scan the immediate area for signals.

By taking the program airborne, the government can sift through a greater volume of information and with greater precision, these people said. If a suspect’s cell phone is identified, the technology can pinpoint its location within about 10 feet, down to a specific room in a building.

The name “dirtbox’’ came from the acronym of the company making the device, DRT, for Digital Receiver Technology Inc. DRT is now a subsidiary of Boeing.