Protect Your Mobile Privacy with RayHunter #shorts

Our Take

Credit to STS Technologies LLC for putting a spotlight on RayHunter, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's open-source project that turns a cheap mobile hotspot into a detector for IMSI catchers and rogue cell towers. These devices, often called Stingrays, let police and other actors silently intercept phone traffic and track devices in an area — it's the kind of dragnet tool that rarely gets a warrant or a public vote before it shows up in your city.

We cover license plate readers because they're the most visible, fastest-growing piece of the automated surveillance puzzle, but cell-site simulators are cut from the same cloth: opaque procurement, little oversight, and a track record of being used far more often than agencies admit. The fact that EFF's tool is open-source and that a company is now offering professional installs shows there's real public appetite for pushing back on surveillance tech instead of just accepting it as background noise.

If you're serious about auditing what's watching you, don't stop at your phone. Check our map to see what ALPR cameras are already logging your plate nearby, and hit take action for concrete steps to push your city council on transparency and limits.