Media Probe Slams FBI For Aircraft and Mobile Surveillance In US Cities

After the reversal of surveillance laws in the Senate and a raging debate over surveillance vs security, another case of surveillance from the sky is haunting the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is reported that athe agency is into aircraft surveillance and has been using a fleet of low-flying planes for filming people on the ground to trace their identity, from the mobile phones in their pockets.

These findings are a result of an Associated Press led investigation, which found FBI flying at least 50 aircraft over 11 states. However, FBI shrugged off the charge and said flights that take off without a judge's approval are used for specific investigations. The news agency started the investigation into the flight data, after a report was published in the Washington Post that two planes circling over riot-hit Baltimore in May belonged to the FBI and were doing surveillance. It said the FBI is using the aircraft to identify thousands of people by snooping into their mobile phones with a technology that is akin to cell towers finding subscribers' data.

The AP probe documented that FBI used similar surveillance in Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and also at Mall of America in Bloomington. The investigation also revealed that FBI aircraft had watched 30 cities including Houston, Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Seattle and Washington DC.

Mysterious Ownership

The probe report claimed that that FBI has at least 115 planes in its flet of which 90 are Cessnas. What has added to the mystery is the ownership of the aircraft, which are shown in the name of shell companies with names such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services, all registered to post office boxes in Virginia.

Defending the aerial surveillance, FBI spokesman Christopher Allen told Sky News that the aircraft surveillance was never a secret. "Specific aircraft and their capabilities are protected for operational security purposes," he added but denied that the aircraft were used for "bulk collection activities or mass surveillance". Allen claimed that the FBI program was fully compliant with the guidelines and the directives of the Attorney General.

Mobile Tracking Systems

There had been reports even in 2014 that some U.S. marshals had flown aircraft fitted with mobile phone tracking systems nicknamed as dirtboxes, which were provided by Digital Receiver Technology, reports The Register. Such aircraft can function like cell phone towers and track unique IMEI numbers broadcast by mobile devices within its reach. The actual location of the user can be traced by triangulation of the signal and people will get identified through their handsets' IMEI.

Generally the FBI flights do video surveillance, but a significant number of them are also into cell phone-snooping. The aircraft, owned and operated through a series of shell companies had been found using a mysterious name "Robert Lindley" in all the documentation, with the individual showing three kinds of signature styles.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)