If you’re in a public place, don’t expect your phone calls and texts to stay private. The FBI has taken the position that court warrants are not needed when deploying cell-phone interceptors in public places.
‘Two U.S. Senators attempting to investigate government use of cellphone interceptors, commonly referred to as “Stingrays,” have confirmed that no search warrants are obtained when FBI agents use the devices in public.
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) discovered the startling information last year during a private briefing in which agency officials laid out a list of warrant exemptions.
In a letter to Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder, both Senators expressed their concerns over the wildly broad exemptions and questioned whether seperate government agencies were following the same policy.’
Read More: FBI: No Expectation of Privacy from Stingrays in Public