Are you under surveillance?

US Marshals Service uses Boeing-made IMSI-catcher known as 'dirtbox'

Stingray is the name of a device called an IMSI-catcher or a "cell-site simulator," and is roughly the size of a briefcase. It works by impersonating cell phone towers and strips metadata or content from phones that connect to them. What does the government have to say about this breach of privacy? They love it.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The United States government doesn't just allow the use of Stingray, it uses it itself!

Invoices requested under the Freedom of Information Act show the Internal Revenue Service purchased several Stingray devices in 2009 and 2012. Privacy advocates claim the purchases show "the wide proliferation of this very invasive surveillance technology."

Harris Corporation, one of the many companies to manufacture Stingray, provided the invoice, which stated the IRS has invested $65,652 into upgrading a Stingray II to a HailStorm, which is a more powerful version and costs $6,000 for training from Harris Corporation.

Though Stingray and HailStorm can be used nefariously, a low-level court order called a PEN register or a "trap and trace" can grant permission for their use.

The government has kept the use of surveillance tech quiet but emerging revelations by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have begun to surface. According to the ACLU, thirteen federal agencies use the devices, including the NSA, FBI and IRS.

The Guardian reported in April that Balitmore police and prosecutors were forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the FBI before they could use Stingray. The agreement mandated them to withdraw or drop cases rather than reveal the use of the tech until September, when it emerged that the withholding of "discovery" evidence could lead to the overturning of up to 2,000 cases.

Former deputy commissioner for services and enforcement at the IRS, Mark Matthews, said he had never heard any "scuttlebutt" about the agency's use of Stingray. He did say there are currently 2-3,000 IRS "special agents" who form the criminal investigation division (CID) and have the clearance to receive PEN register orders.

Matthews did clarify the IRS usually goes about investigations without the tech, but the use of HailStorm and Stingray make it much easier to look into money laundering from drug organizations. From such operations, Matthews said, "the IRS had moved to drug work and had learned a lot of aggressive techniques in the money laundering and drug world, and these bad habits were leaking over into the tax world, which was supposed to be their real mission."

 Staff attorney with the speech, privacy and technology project at the ACLU, Nate Wessler, told the Guardian, "The info showing that they are using Stingrays is generally consistent with the kinds of investigative tactics that they are engaging in, and it shows just how far these devices have spread."

The tech is extremely powerful and can connect to anyone within its radius. Though the government claims it is focusing primarily on drug-related cases when using the equipment, is it too far-fetched to believe that everyone using it is trustworthy? What about privacy laws? What happened to keeping the public informed? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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