Last year, Edward Snowden leaked countless pages of documents on government spying programs. Now, however, it appears that he missed one. According to a breaking news story originally published by the Wall Street Journal, the United States Justice Department has reached new lows in spying on American citizens. Or technically, new heights.

Indeed, the Justice Department has been spying on citizens from above this time, using fake cell towers mounted on airplanes to steal data from cellphones. The planes fly over metropolitan areas and utilize what are called “dirtboxes” (essentially, devices that mimic the signals of cell towers) to trick cellphones. The cellphones then start using the dirtboxes to get their signal, instead of obtaining it from an actual cell tower.

Once this happens, the government is essentially able to collect user data the way a fishing boat collects fish in a net. Since phones have to report unique registration information in order to use cell towers, the Justice Department is able to access each and every phone that connects to its fake cell towers. Officials then sort through this data, looking for signs of criminal activity and bastardizing the Constitutional rights of countless innocent citizens along the way.

The fishing metaphor works in multiple ways for this scenario. Supposedly, the government will release or “let go” of any data if they determine that it does not belong to a suspected criminal. Not before they look through the data for any signs of illegal activity, though.

People familiar with this spy plane program say that it has had positive effects, including the arrests of both murderers and drug dealers. They did not say, however, how many millions of people have had their “inalienable rights” compromised in order to get those results.

Of course, it has become clearer than ever over the past year and a half that the government does not care much for the privacy rights of citizens. Last summer, leaks about government spying programs revealed that the NSA was using shadowy court maneuvers in order to get major internet companies like Google and Facebook to hand over information about their customers. And just last month, FBI Director James Comey railed against mobile encryption, saying that it would lead the country “to a very dark place” by leaving the government unable to intercept data and “bring people to justice.”

Not that Comey need have worried: the Justice Department’s latest spy plane program cannot be stopped by something as simple as phone encryption. Since these counterfeit cell towers intercept phone data at the very source of mobile service, there is no form of encryption that can stop the government from getting cellphone information.