It can’t be true, can it? Seems like more of an urban legend, the psychological by-product of living in a society newly exposed as a surveillance state. Are local police across the country really sweeping up the cellphone calls of hundreds of innocent citizens, and hiding the fact, not only from the public but even from judges and criminal defense attorneys?

Sadly, it is true. The Stingray is a box about the size of a small suitcase which can simulate a cellphone tower. It collects signals from all cellphones in its vicinity.

The good folks at The Blot Magazine have even obtained the user’s manual through a Freedom of Information Act request. Check it out here.

Also check out the Wikipedia page full of information on this.

And the ACLU’s info on who’s got them.

I’m not sure what’s scarier — the fact that this is going on, or the fact that most Americans don’t seem to care?