Daniel Rigmaiden, Government Transparency Advocate

Daniel Rigmaiden is a co-founder of the Aaron Swartz Day Police Surveillance Project (ASDPSP). See Daniel’s presentation “Cell Phone Surveillance” – from our 2017 evening event (YouTube) (Internet Archive)

Daniel became a government transparency advocate after U.S. law enforcement used a secret cell phone surveillance device to locate him inside his home. The device, often called a “Stingray,” simulates a service provider cell tower and tricks cell phones into connecting to
a law enforcement controlled signal that identifies, locates, and in some cases, collects the communications content of cell phones.

Before Daniel brought Stingray cell phone surveillance into the public spotlight in 2011, law enforcement concealed use of the device from judges, defense attorneys and defendants, and would typically not obtain a proper warrant before deploying a Stingray.

In 2014, Daniel peeled away documents from government agencies that detail use of the Stingray and other cell phone surveillance. In a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI, Daniel represented himself and successfully argued to have the FBI produce more documents and to remove redactions from previously disclosed documents.

Daniel has also served as a defense expert in both federal and state criminal cases involving cell phone surveillance.