New America's Open Technology Institute reveals a project it conducted this past April during the March for Science protests in Washington, D.C. The group made sensors designed to detect the presence of cell site simulators called Stingrays — technology that mimics cellphone towers in order to surveil smartphone metadata, content and location. "There is a nascent open source community coalescing around the idea of detecting cellular surveillance," the report states. "Based on the available literature and documentation, the community has identified a number of possible identifiers that point to the presence of cell site simulators." The project found, however, that available technology only allows for detection of 2G and 3G GSM networks. The group, together with other advocacy organizations, plans to create more advanced detection sensors and conduct further research on Stingray use. 
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