What you need to know: trends and news in surveillance and technology

FBI Director admits to warrantless cell phone location tracking, citing ‘relevance’ standard

After dodging the question for months and flat out refusing to answer the ACLU's public records requests seeking clarity on it, the FBI has finally ‘fessed up and admitted that it does not obtain a probab

Police use cell phone sniffers to keep lists of people who attend protests

_{A promotional brochure for surveillance and advertising technology, released by Wikileaks' Spy Files project.}

Documents strongly suggest the FBI is warrantlessly tracking our phones using high-tech cell phone sniffers

Newly released documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) suggest that since 2010 the FBI has warrantlessly tracked cell phones using sophisticated "sniffing" equipment called Stingrays.

We are about to learn a lot more about how the government spies on our phones

Excellent news: Massachusetts’ highest court upholds probable cause, judicial oversight standard for extended GPS tracking

Los Angeles PD got a cell phone sniffer for “Terrorism” but used it in drug cases

^{Photo credit: Ed Schipul}

Threatening tweets, “secret” drone wars, costly surveillance state expansion and more

DHS has a cell phone sniffer? And more technology news

Your phone may not be safe at protests

Ever wondered why your cell phone reception suddenly becomes terrible at protests? Ever worried that police could use electronic spoofing devices to suck up your mobile data because you are in the streets exercising your rights?

You might have been onto something.