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We Hunted Hidden Police Signals at the DNC

Using special software, WIRED investigated police surveillance at the DNC. We collected signals from nearly 300,000 devices, revealing vulnerabilities for both law enforcement and everyday citizens alike.

Armed with a waist pack stuffed with two rooted Android phones and three Wi-Fi hot spots running CSS-detection software developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights nonprofit, we conducted a first-of-its-kind wireless survey of the signals around the DNC. WIRED worked with Quintin and Greenberg to install Ray Hunter on three wireless hots pots, which allowed reporters to walk around the DNC and related events in Chicago to attempt to detect whether the devices connected to cell-site simulators. On Tuesday of the DNC, an unpermitted protest organized by a self-described militant anti-imperialist group called Behind Enemy Lines was scheduled to take place outside the Israeli Consulate at the Accenture Tower, located two miles east of the United Center.

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