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Comment by rjsw | Hacker News Reader

And calls to 911 will increase as people check whether there is a Stingray nearby.

Stingrays block all calls since they're not actually connected to a cell network, so calling any number should suffice.

How is blocking all calls even remotely legal?

It probably isn't.

Aren't these still "secret" devices that show up even w/out a warrant?

It’s not. But the FCC isn’t capable of doing its job, and prosecutors are very cautious about using the evidence.

Reminds me of another story on HN where for months some guys was driving around with a cell phone jammer in his trunk because he got fed up of distracted drivers. It took quite a bit of effort to track him down as far as i remember.

Possibly cathartic, but I'd almost imagine having a bad signal would distract them more.

Anything's legal until a judge rules on it.

It's not telephone service is considered critical infrastructure and therefore it is supposed to be illegal to disrupt service. This is why you have to block robo calls on your phone and its not done for you by the carriers. An over simplification is if a call is attempted no entity can prevent it from being made.

I am sure there are some legal loop holes out there that is why the government can use the CSS.

Ok, so they should fix that and connect the stingrays to an actual network, and forward all calls.

Leaves the question what happens when they move or turn off the stingray.

So just man in the middle all the encryption that goes on with modern phone protocols? Should we all have to install the stingray root cert on all our phones? or should the phone providers have to provide them a valid tower cert on demand?

Don't stingrays downgrade to 2g where cellphones didn't authenticate the tower?

No, even with 3G phones generally won't complain in any visible way if the tower doesn't support encryption.

I mean, I think they downgrade to 2G for a lot of reasons; the encryption (or lack thereof) isn't the only one.

So if your internet goes (which never happens here anymore, ymmv), then don't make any calls. If the stingray lets through internet, then make encrypted voip calls.

That’s what the sensational headline would make you think, but the opposite is true. According to the company, the devices do, in fact, detect and let 911 calls through to the real tower. It is all other calls that are blocked.

They say they're supposed to do this, but the feature was never actually tested and even the manufacturer themselves aren't sure it's gonna work.

Not certified by the FCC does not mean not tested. If you’re an engineer, I’m sure you’ve tested plenty of things that you didn’t get “certified” by some regulator.

The only reason to go through such expensive regulatory certifications is that you believe you have a legal obligation to.

or maybe that you care about public image. It's obvious this company only cares about Police contracts.

Just because the call isn't to 911 doesn't mean it wasn't an emergency call.

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