IMSI Cell Phone Sniffing Aircraft

I made a blog entry about the subject in Nov. 2014 at this link.

Today a report at this link presents more information and flight patterns.  This link is given for supporting info.

"The United States Department of Justice appears to be operating a fleet of at least 62 [EDIT: Now it appears that number is actually 100] small aircraft and helicopters over cities nationwide. The aircraft have been registered to corporations that do not exist, and the purpose of the aerial operations is not known at this time. The flight patterns of the aircraft indicate they are most likely conducting surveillance, much like the controversial aircraft caught flying circles over the city of Baltimore which has seen many protests recently. See examples from this investigation of similar flight patterns over New York City, Dallas, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle, and again, Baltimore."

This link from 2006 reports the same flight patterns and says:

"In this case, the more likely explanation is that the FBI is using the Delaware identity for its new generation of spy planes, equipped with sophisticated optics to watch people on the ground. In 2003, the Bureau admitted to flying a tricked-out 182 over several communities near Indianapolis to keep tabs on customers of internet cafes and copy shops."

The capability to do this cell phone IMSI catching is not new.  If the same aircraft is now equipped with Argus then the product of the flight is a two-fer-one deal. 

Of course the government is doing it to collect surveillance information!  It is so obvious and the capability exists, relatively cheap for the info collected.  One of the most important aspects of the surveillance info collected is its half life.  Especially when cell phone IMSI location is collected at night when cell phones are stationary.  People own cell phones for an average amount of time.  Maybe a year?  Some more than a year some less.

This link reports a small aircraft circling from 10:30 pm to 3:00 am.

Once a cell phone IMSI location is collected at night and the same location verified by a later flight, one week or a month later, the probability that it will also be in the same location in the future for a probable amount of time is simple.  The location is at least a good place to start if someone is to be tracked.  If they are not found there then it becomes the start of a trail and also has relationship to a person's prior association.

I would call it cell phone location data mining.  It tells where a person sleeps and who they are sleeping with.  More accurately if recorded after midnight.  It would be interesting to look at when the flights took place.

During the day recording IMSI location probably tells where a person works if they are at the same place day after day.

There is a great wealth of information produced by flights over cities to collect IMSI cell phone location data.

I am certain that it is being done.

Circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.