More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers

While the US has seen a vibrant and relatively transparent debate around so-called IMSI catchers—devices that can indiscriminately sweep up texts, calls and other mobile phone data in a given area—the UK government has remained consistently tight-lipped about its use of the tools.

More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers 1496145571892-12677922605_3fc3699404_k

More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers 1496145571892-12677922605_3fc3699404_k

But, slowly, more information is trickling out. According to financial documents uncovered by Motherboard, another UK police force has allocated funds for buying IMSI catchers. One of the documents also implies that the force shares this type of surveillance technology, meaning that the total number of agencies across the country that can use IMSI catchers may be greater than currently understood.
"These documents suggest that a far wider group of police forces are making use of the technologies and it is no longer just the counter-terrorism units in the larger forces," Eric King, a visiting lecturer in surveillance law at Queen Mary University of London, told Motherboard in an email.
Essex Police has allocated a total of £145,000 to "CCDC Platform Equipment", according to a budget spreadsheet. Some £122,500 of that cash was to be spent across 2016 and 2017, while the remaining £22,500 is apparently due to be used in 2018 or 2019, judging by the document. As a Bristol Cable investigation found, CCDC stands for covert communications data capture, and experts strongly believes it refers to IMSI catchers.
More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers 1496144271719-essex

More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers 1496144271719-essex

A section of the financial document from Essex Police. Image: Joseph Cox
IMSI catchers, otherwise known as cell-site simulators or sometimes Stingrays after a particularly popular brand, masquerade as cellphone towers. Once phones in a potentially wide area connect to the device, it grabs a SIM card's unique identifying code—an IMSI number. Some models of IMSI catcher can also intercept phone calls and text messages.
Other documents previously detailed links between CCDC and London's Metropolitan Police, West Mercia, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Staffordshire, Avon and Somerset, and South Yorkshire forces.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/more-uk-police-put-cash-down-for-imsi-catchers
_________________
Anarcho-Capitalist, AnCaps Forum, Ancapolis, OZschwitz Contraband
“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner
"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann

More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers

More UK Police Put Cash Down for IMSI Catchers

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order