Airborne IMSI catchers (dirtboxes)
Cell site and carrier
This page is public-interest research. An argument grade is not a court finding. A watchdog page describes the device. It is not proof a Nevada agency bought it or turned a feature on. A product description is not a Nevada practice. Agencies are not merged: the City of Las Vegas Department of Public Safety, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Clark County School District, the City of Reno, and the Nevada Department of Public Safety stay separate. A hotlist hit is not a confirmed crime. Legal review of this page is unverified.
What it does
An airborne IMSI catcher is the same kind of simulator, mounted on an airplane or a helicopter. Public reporting has called some federal systems dirtboxes. From the air, the device can hear phones over a wider area than a unit on a car. EFF describes airborne use by federal agencies. That description is not a Nevada flight.
Privacy watchdog concerns
- Electronic Frontier Foundation. Cell-Site Simulators (IMSI Catchers). EFF says a cell-site simulator pretends to be a cell tower and collects identifiers from phones in range. EFF calls that a general search and says some devices have been flown on aircraft. This is EFF’s claim about the device type. It does not establish current use by any Nevada agency.
Constitutional issues
Unresolved question
Fourth Amendment, Nevada Constitution art. 1, § 18
Warrant practice not established for a Nevada agency
Airborne IMSI catchers (dirtboxes): No Nevada aircraft, contract, or flight is in this build. None is inferred from the 2013 ground-simulator report. Carpenter does not decide an airborne simulator.
- United States v. Lambis, 197 F. Supp. 3d 606 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). No source link was supplied for this citation.. Does not decide this technology. Persuasive only. Not binding in Nevada.. Lambis is a ground-simulator order from another district. It does not decide an aircraft, and it is not binding in Nevada.
Statutes attached to read, not findings.
- NRS Chapter 239. Nevada public-records law is the route to ask for contracts, policies, and logs. Citing it is not a finding that a surveillance practice is unlawful.
- Nevada Constitution art. 1, § 18. State search-and-seizure provision. This page does not quote the section. No section anchor was verified. It is listed only where a search question is actually implicated.
- 42 U.S.C. § 1983. A civil remedy for a deprivation of federal rights under color of state law. It is not a warrant statute, and it does not itself make a surveillance practice unlawful.
Nevada use
Not documented on this page. Not inferred from the 2013 report.
Unverified. Distinct from the 2013 LVMPD acquisition report.
See also: Stingray cell-site simulators
Next record
Airborne IMSI catchers (dirtboxes): Do not publish this as a Nevada practice.
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