After hearing other people’s conversations over her cellphone, Sandra Smith of Gretna bought this “cryptophone,” which tracks when a cell-site simulator might be in use.
LINCOLN — Sandra Smith was sitting in her van, waiting to pick up her kids from sports practice.
As usual, she was talking on her phone.
“All of the sudden, men’s voices broke into the cellphone while I was talking,” she said.
Smith asked her friend if she, too, could hear the voices. Immediately, she said, the voices stopped.
Smith had owned a cellphone for 15 years, she said, and hadn’t had that happen. A few weeks later, it happened again.
Her research led her to learn more about devices that are raising eyebrows across the country and are the subject of a bill before the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
Called “cell-site simulators,” “IMSI-catchers” or by the brand name “StingRay,” the surveillance gadgets trick cellphones into connecting to them instead of regular cell towers. Then they allow users to see the location of cellphones in an area, metadata about calls and all activity on the phone.
Legislative Bill 738, introduced by Crete Sen. Laura Ebke, would make it illegal for Nebraska law enforcement agencies to use the devices.
Similar bills are being considered around the country as the usage of the devices becomes more common. Nearly 2,000 cases are being reviewed in Baltimore after police used the devices without defense attorneys’ knowledge.
The problem with the devices, Ebke said, is that they cannot target one individual. Instead, they collect information on all cellphones in an area.
Deputy Douglas County Attorney Jeff Lux testified against the bill, saying he had been involved in a case in which the technology proved essential.
Federal authorities were after a methamphetamine dealer, he said. The dealer kept buying burner phones, throwing the old one away and changing his phone number.
With a cell-site simulator, investigators could match the device to their surveillance observations to find his number. The suspect picked up his phone as the cell-site simulator showed an incoming call, for example. After a few such instances, they had him.
Lux said he went to a district judge to get a warrant, and he arranged for other data to be thrown away.
“All the rest of the numbers, all the rest of the information, deleted,” he said. “We didn’t want the government holding this information in a database or anything, because that’s improper.”
Police in at least 15 states have cell-site simulators, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU said the status in Nebraska is unknown.
Nebraska departments said they were largely unfamiliar with the technology. The State Patrol doesn’t use them, nor does the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office. “We don’t have the capabilities. It’s very high-end tech,” said Greg London, chief deputy of the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.
The Omaha Police Department doesn’t own such a device, either, Lt. Darci Tierney said. But similar technology was used in investigating Nikko Jenkins, who killed four Omahans over a span of 10 days.
In that case, she said, the department worked closely with “federal partners.”
There’s no easy answer for what happened to Smith’s phone when other voices were audible on the line. Information about the capabilities of cell-site simulators is limited, in part because law enforcement agencies are prohibited from giving details about their use.
But Smith does have evidence that the devices are being used in Nebraska. Last year, she bought a special phone that tracks every time there are signs of a cell-site simulator in use.
First, she gets a notification that her phone’s been unencrypted. Then, a notification that her phone has been reduced to a 2G data connection. Finally, she’s notified that her phone can’t connect to other cell towers.
Since July, that string of events has happened eight times.
Les Goldsmith is the CEO of EC America, which manufactures the “cryptophone” Smith uses. He said the events she has recorded indicate that a cell-site simulator has been used. “In any normal environment, that kind of thing doesn’t happen,” he said. “You start to run out of coincidences.”
He’s less sure that it’s a government group operating the technology.
Although the devices are expensive, he said, they aren’t very complex and can be built from scratch. There are even instructions online, he said.
His company has researched the ownership of such devices and found that only 30 percent are operated by government agencies, he said.
State senators heard from law enforcement officials who said they were concerned that the bill, as written, would prevent things like “pinging” a cellphone location or blocking communications of a person who has taken hostages.
“I’m not willing to walk away from this technology, because I think it can do some good,” Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Corey O’Brien said. “I’d hate to see an all-out prohibition.”
But some members of the Legislature seemed to be leaning in favor of some limitations.
Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks said the mass data collection aspect of the devices concerned her.
“The promise that we won’t peek at other things, or that we won’t look at other information that comes forward? It’s too much of a temptation,” she said.
Ebke indicated that she would seek a technical expert to brief lawmakers on the capabilities of such technology before moving forward.
Smith, who testified Thursday, said she hopes the bill is advanced by the committee.
“Almost everything is stored on a cellphone. Photos. Videos. Emails. That’s a treasure trove of information,” she said. “It’s a civil rights issue to have the ability to have privacy and freedom of speech and freedom of association.”
Contact the writer: 402-444-3144, matt.wynn@owh.com
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