Compliance Management, Privacy

Judge unseals documents related to police dept. stingray use

After a newspaper petitioned to make a bevy of court documents public that speak to a secret program under which police across the country tracked cellphones, a judge has heeded the request and unsealed them.

A review of the court papers showed that police in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C. area has made 529 requests since 2010 to use stingray technology as part of their cellphone surveillance efforts. 

According to a report in the Charlotte Observer, the newspaper that petitioned for the information, the requests paint a more complete picture than ever before of the use of stingray and the police department's surveillance program. The newspaper has said that judges didn't appear to often deny authorization of the requests. The documents are now under review by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney.

The technology has increasingly come under scrutiny and criticism. 

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