WASHINGTON (AP) — A newspaper is reporting that the Justice Department is collecting data from thousands of cellphones through high tech gear deployed on airplanes that mimics communications towers.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the hunt for information about criminal suspects is also collecting data from many innocent Americans.

The newspaper, citing sources familiar with the operations, says the U.S. Marshal’s Service program, which became fully operational in 2007, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area airports to collect the data.

The planes are equipped with devices that mimic cell towers of large telecommunications firms and trick cellphones into reporting unique registration information.