×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
The FBI’s Encrypted Phone Sting
Loaded on April 15, 2025
by Michael Thompson
published in Criminal Legal News
May, 2025, page 45
Filed under:
Cell Searches,
FBI,
Police State-Surveillance,
Electronic Surveillance.
Location:
United States of America.
by Michael Dean Thompson
A San Diego-based company called ANOM, often stylized as “ANØM,” distributed encrypted phones worldwide. These devices were stripped down, hardened against intrusion, and designed to allow messaging only between phones on the same closed network. Unbeknownst to users, the FBI intercepted every communication.
…
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? Fingerprint Evidence’s Troubling Flaws, by Douglas Ankney
- Warrantless Device Inspections Surge at the U.S. Border, by David Kim
- Welcome to 2025: Where Your Freedoms Go to Die, by Nisha Whitehead, John W. Whitehead
- Connecticut Supreme Court Announces Teague’s ‘Watershed’ Rule Exception to Nonretroactivity of New Constitutional Rule of Criminal Procedure on Collateral Review Has ‘Continued Vitality’ in Connecticut, Adoption of Third Exception to Teague’s Nonretroacti, by Douglas Ankney
- ICE’s Expansive Surveillance Tool Monitors Hundreds of Websites and Apps, by James Mills
- Arkansas Supreme Court Rules § 16-93-609(b)(2)(B), Relating to Parole Eligibility for Residential Burglary Conviction, Applies Retroactively to Defendant, by Sagi Schwartzberg
- A Black Box, a Guilty Plea, and an Uncertain Truth, by Michael Thompson
- Cops’ Lie-Detecting Delusion: They Can’t Spot Lies Based on Nonverbal Cues or ‘Abnormal’ Behavior—Yet Keep Lying to Themselves (and Ruining Lives) That They Can, by David Kim
- Federal Government Circumventing Fourth Amendment by Buying Data From Data Brokers, by Anthony Accurso
- Third-Hand Meth Contamination in Cars Poses Hidden Danger to Buyers and Renters, by Jo Ellen Nott
- Bodycam Footage for Sale: Ohio Joins the List of States Charging Money for Bodycam Footage, While Others Restrict It Entirely, by James Mills
- AI Identifies Sex From Skulls Faster and More Accurately Than Experts, by James Mills
- Crowdsourcing a Map to Track License Plate Surveillance, by Anthony Accurso
- Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Announces Order of Deferred Disposition Not a ‘Sentence’ Under Article 44.01(b)—Which Authorizes State to Appeal Illegal Sentence—Resolving Split Among State Courts of Appeals, by David Reutter
- Treasury Lowers Cash Reporting Threshold to $200 for Southwest Border Counties, by James Mills
- Connecticut Compensates Exonerated Prisoners, Reforms Policing, by Jo Ellen Nott
- NYPD Responds to 911 Calls with Drones, by James Mills
- Younger Generations Lead Decline in U.S. Support for Death Penalty, by Michael Thompson
- D.C. Police Continue Heavy Investment in Social Media Monitoring, by Anthony Accurso
- Questionable Retail Theft Panic Fuels More Mass Surveillance and Police Militarization, by Jo Ellen Nott
- Fourth Circuit: District Court Erred in Imposing ‘Managerial Role’ Enhancement Under Guidelines § 3B1.1(b) Without Making ‘Particularized Findings’ Regarding Scope of Criminal Activity and Number of Participants as Required by Guidelines §1B1.1, by Douglas Ankney
- Nearly 150 Exonerations in 2024 Highlight Persistent Flaws in U.S. Criminal Justice System, by David Kim
- Ninth Circuit Grants Stay and Abeyance of Federal Habeas Petition to Allow Petitioner to Exhaust State Remedies, by Sagi Schwartzberg
- The FBI’s Encrypted Phone Sting, by Michael Thompson
- Ninth Circuit Announces Attorney Cannot Be Compelled to Provide ‘Privilege Log’ Protected Under Fisher if Doing So Would Undermine Client’s Fifth Amendment ‘Act-of-Production Privilege’ and Attorney-Client Privilege, by Sagi Schwartzberg
- Fifth Circuit: Sentence Enhancement for Maintaining Drug Premises Not Satisfied Solely by Defendant’s Single, Conclusory Statement That He ‘Maintained’ Premises When Record Shows Mere ‘Use’ of Premises, by David Reutter
- News in Brief
More from Michael Thompson:
- Probabilistic Genotyping on Trial: Can We Trust the Secret Algorithms Deciding Guilt?, Aug. 1, 2025
- AI Honeypots: Police Are Using Chatbots to Pose as Teens and Sex Workers to Entrap Suspects, Aug. 1, 2025
- Not-So-Friendly Neighborhood Spidernet: Emerging Mass Surveillance Tool to Weave a Web Around Your Digital Life, July 1, 2025
- Arizona’s Secret Mass Surveillance System: An Obscure Financial Database Amasses Millions of Financial Records in the Shadows, July 1, 2025
- Ninth Circuit Reinstates Religious Exercise Claim from Arizona “Christian-Israelite” Prisoner Denied Passover Meal, June 1, 2025
- A Black Box, a Guilty Plea, and an Uncertain Truth, April 15, 2025
- Younger Generations Lead Decline in U.S. Support for Death Penalty, April 15, 2025
- The FBI’s Encrypted Phone Sting, April 15, 2025
- FBI Pressured Forensic Science Group to Censor Critical Workshops, Emails Reveal, March 15, 2025
- Study Confirms New York City’s ShotSpotter Deployment Was a Costly Misstep, March 15, 2025
More from these topics:
- Special Digital Currencies Issue: Bitcoin and CBDCs What Is Bitcoin? The Answer to Government Surveillance and Control Through Money An Essential Introduction, Glossary of Multidisciplinary Terminology, and Colorful History, Aug. 15, 2025. Money/Property, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Money Laundering/Structuring.
- From the Editor, Aug. 15, 2025. Money/Property, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Money Laundering/Structuring.
- Central Bank Digital Currencies: Trojan Horses Delivering Mass Surveillance Under the Guise of Monetary Innovation, Aug. 15, 2025. Money/Property, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Money Laundering/Structuring.
- The Arrival of REAL ID: National ID Cards and Internal Passports in America, Aug. 1, 2025. Police State-Surveillance.
- The Quiet Transformation of Government Data into a Mass Surveillance Tool, Aug. 1, 2025. Police Searches, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance.
- DEA’s Secret Phone Surveillance Program ‘Hemisphere’ Sparked Internal Warnings—Then a Cover-Up, Aug. 1, 2025. Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Privacy Act/Rights.
- Driverless Vehicles Are the Newest Mass Surveillance Tool of Law Enforcement, July 1, 2025. Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Recordings.
- New Orleans Police Continue Using Facial Recognition Despite City Restrictions, July 1, 2025. Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Site-Location Records, Electronic Surveillance, Authorization.
- Facial Recognition at the Border: CBP’s Push to Scan Every Car Passenger Sparks Privacy Concerns, May 15, 2025. Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Privacy Act/Rights, Searches - Border Stops/Searches, Immigration Law/Offenses.
- Car Subscriptions: Another Means of Mass Surveillance by Law Enforcement, May 15, 2025. Vehicle Searches, Internet, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance.
