Kim Dotcom has asked a judge to order the United States to come clean on spying after a phone call glitch prompted fears he was victim to a surveillance system used by the FBI.
The Stingray could have spied on Dotcom, the Auckland District Court heard yesterday.
The system works as a fake cellphone tower, searching out a specific signal then hijacking call data connecting to or leaving the target phone.
Judge Nevin Dawson was told the use of Stingray would explain a bizarre call phenomenon that occurred during Dotcom's discussions with lawyer William Akel.
Dotcom heard his own voice playing back over his cellphone while talking to Mr Akel, the court heard.
This would of course be illegal if done without a warrant. And the police have already said that they didn't have one - their summary of their investigation into the GCSB [PDF] states that "No interception warrant had been sought by OFCANZ, as there was no evidential foundation to legally obtain a warrant". And if there wasn't the evidential foundation to get one before the raid, there sure as hell wasn't one afterwards.
And yet, someone appears to be tapping Kim Dotcom's phone. That person is committing a crime. The police need to investigate and prosecute whoever is responsible.