(Courtesy Harris Corp.)A device that tricks cellphones into sending it their location information and has been used quietly by police and federal agents for years, requires a search warrant before it is turned on, an appeals court in Washington ruled Thursday. It is the fourth such ruling by either a state appeals court or federal district court, and may end up deciding the issue unless the government takes the case to the U.S. Supreme Court or persuades the city’s highest court to reverse the ruling. The D.C. Court of Appeals agreed in a 2 to 1 ruling, echoing similar rulings in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and federal district courts in New York City and San Francisco. The appeals court ruled, and the defense agreed, that if the police had used the StingRay on one of the victims’ phones, instead of Jones’s phone, the search would have been legal because the victims consented to the search. Those records can be obtained with a court order, and a lower standard of proof, rather than a warrant.

Source: Washington Post September 21, 2017 21:31 UTC