The Justice Department recommended that prosecutors obtain search warrants when tracking phones using such "precise" technology as GPS or multiple cellphone towers, according to documents dated in 2007 obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union in a freedom-of-information request.
But as lawyer Marc Zwillinger told us, the ambiguity around just what evidence is needed to issue a tracking order means that prosecutors often track large numbers of people only tangentially related to a case.
According to prosecutors, use of the stingray was authorized under a court order that investigators used to procure real-time tracking information from Verizon Wireless, Rigmaiden's service provider.