Feds push for tracking cell phones

Source: CNET

Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.

FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually convicted the duo of multiple bank robbery and weapons charges.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.



Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html

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The ACLU is "concerned about this "warrantless tracking", it's damn near the same thing as warrantless wiretapping under the previous administration.

Maybe each phone call needs a warning, like at the beginning of a DVD, that you have no "reasonable expectation of privacy", and we hear you now!

This should require a warrant.

Source: cnet





February 11, 2010 4:00 AM PST
Feds push for tracking cell phones
by Declan McCullagh


Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.

FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually convicted the duo of multiple bank robbery and weapons charges.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Those claims have alarmed the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, which have opposed the Justice Department's request and plan to tell the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that Americans' privacy deserves more protection and judicial oversight than what the administration has proposed. .................

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html?tag=mncol;posts

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And a few days ago we had this!! Camera's OK at every turn??


http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10448060-38.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited
Filed in Politics on Feb.08, 2010


WASHINGTON–The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in investigations of child pornography and other serious crimes.

FBI Director Robert Mueller supports storing Internet users’ “origin and destination information,” a bureau attorney said at a federal task force meeting on Thursday.

As far back as a 2006 speech, Mueller had called for data retention on the part of Internet providers, and emphasized the point two years later when explicitly asking Congress to enact a law making it mandatory. But it had not been clear before that the FBI was asking companies to begin to keep logs of what Web sites are visited, which few if any currently do.

The FBI is not alone in renewing its push for data retention. As CNET reported earlier this week, a survey of state computer crime investigators found them to be nearly unanimous in supporting the idea. Matt Dunn, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the Department of Homeland Security, also expressed support for the idea during the task force meeting.

REST OF ARTICLE

bastards...and they will probably get away with it..
hey agent mike, kiss my royal american ass

Yes they will get away with it like everything else they've done. People always ask me how can I not have a cell phone & my reply is I did fine my whole life not needing one.

you know, after seeing that "miss me yet" Bushshit billboard, my answer is rapidly becoming "i didn't know you left."

this shit has to stop.

That movie seems so ancient now, even though its plot theme seems very relevant today.

if you phone itself signals where it is.

$20 is cheap.

I think not.

welcome to 1984

Phones and towers are always in radio contact with each other.

same as the old boss. This is very disturbing.

the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts

so disappointing...

And credit checks for employment or rent.

1984 is 36 years too late.

Nice. Thanks PBO.

An article from cnet dated January 2008.........

Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me