Judges in two states authorized fake-tower tracking of a student who helped produce Don Lemon's coverage

Four people appear in the surveillance requests: Richardson, Fort, Lundy and a phone number Wired traced to Lemon ^[18]. Three were named as simulator targets, and a signed warrant is confirmed for one of them, Richardson ^[19]. For the applications targeting Fort and Lundy, and for the pen register orders, it is unclear whether a judge approved any ^[6]. In a July court letter, Fort's lawyers said prosecutors "did not know" whether the surveillance applications had been authorized or had yielded evidence ^[8].

Richardson is a charged defendant ^[2], and his lawyers wrote in a motion to exclude the tracking evidence that the purpose of the warrants was "locating and arresting him" ^[4].

A cell-site simulator impersonates a cell tower to locate a target's phone. In doing so it can also collect identifying information from any nearby cellular device, including those of people who are not suspected of a crime ^[9]. Privacy advocates have long warned that the devices could be turned against protesters and journalists ^[10].

Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has spent years researching the devices and developing tools to help people detect them ^[12]. He said: "Using an advanced surveillance capability such as a cell-site simulator against members of the free press for reporting stories that are unfavorable to the president is an appalling attack on the First Amendment" ^[11]. Using EFF's detection software, Wired found evidence suggesting a simulator was deployed near the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Who operated it and for what purpose remain unknown ^[20].

Wired reported that the affidavits filed in support of tracking Richardson claimed that video showed him, along with Fort, Lemon and others, "chanting with agitators" ^[16]. In its own assessment, Wired wrote that the warrants raise serious questions about the accuracy of what investigators told judges and about why they sought such intrusive tracking to find Richardson ^[17]. Agents also sought records identifying everyone who had bought a particular beanie at REI in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area over more than two years ^[14].

The only confirmed simulator warrants are for the 21-year-old who helped produce the coverage ^[1][3]. We'd put production staff and students on the same protest-day briefing list as on-air reporters. The tradeoff is size: a list built from everyone who works a protest day is a larger program to run, and to answer for, than a list of bylines.

To sort what each person on that list is exposed to, ask two things of each kind of request: does a judge review it before it runs, and does it reach people beyond the one named? A simulator warrant gets a yes on the first, since judges in two states signed ^[3], and a yes on the second, since the device collects from nearby phones ^[9]. The customs demand for journalists' telephone and YouTube records gets a no on the first ^[13].