Michael from Muckrock sez, "After scouring American police departments (via public records requests) for drone usage, MuckRock is setting its sights a little lower with a crowdfunding campaign hoping to fund thousands of public records request on how local agencies are using fake cell phone towers, warrantless wiretaps, and other techniques to get your cell phone to phone home."
It's not an academic concern: Homeland Security is often subsidizing the purchase of equipment like Stingrays, which can intercept location and call data, but often not providing proper training or best practices for protecting privacy. And recently the DHS seized records requested under a public records act to prevent their release. Filing far and wide will help reduce the ability of the federal government to hide wider ranging programs, while also giving the public a first look into how widespread these techniques have spread.
