The U.S. Marshals Service program, which became fully functional around 2007, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area airports, with a flying range covering most of the U.S. population, according to people familiar with the program.

The same group getting the orders for stingrays get the order for the dirtboxes.

The program cuts out phone companies as an intermediary in searching for suspects. Rather than asking a company for cell-tower information to help locate a suspect, which law enforcement has criticized as slow and inaccurate, the government can now get that information itself. People familiar with the program say they do get court orders to search for phones, but it isn’t clear if those orders describe the methods used because the orders are sealed.

In addition to the privacy concerns of non-suspects whose information is captured by these devices, there is concern over the kind of order prosecutors seek to authorize the usage of these devices, and whether the orders provide direction as to how information captured from phones of non-suspects is to be treated. See my earlier post noting that law enforcement apparently has been obtaining court orders to use stingrays under the pen register statute, which unlike a search warrant, does not require a showing of probable cause.

There are also reports that the Government doesn't detail the technology it intends to use in its application to the court, because it wants to keep the technology secret. So the court may not know the extent of the surveillance it is authorizing. If the Court isn't made aware of the type of device being used, or the extent of the information the device will capture, it can't know to include directions in its order for discarding the information captured on phones of non-suspects. What right does the government have to keep this information? None, that I can think of.