Tracking cell phones?

[msmith198025]

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


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

Hmm, I dont agree.

[Bob Haller]

hey its for our safety.......

and many will say i have nothing to hide.

it will be used for anti terrorism but then expand, to muders, rapists, child molesters, cheating spouses etc etc.

[Derwin0]

Hmm, I dont agree.
I don't agree either. It's not that hard to get a warrant, so they should go to a judge, show probable cause, and get one.

[Bob Haller]

the feds are collecting a massive database on every single american.

cell phones constantly report in their location so they know where you are, ez car passes, cameras on every corner the red light ones, can record our every move, same for wi fii computer access. what phone number everyone called. what books you borrow at library, every keystroke on your computer, all purchases by debit and credit card, the list must go on forever

big government must be spending a fortune collecting data, culling this to usable data will be the big challenge.

the trouble is the data will be miss used..

[wildbill129]

I don't agree either. The only time a warrant should not be needed is in cases of life or death where a warrant can't be written(you can't write a warrant unless a crime has been committed), or there isn't time to write one due to exigency . For example, missing person, child abduction, kidnapping, etc. On most of those cases a follow-up warrant can be served after the exigency. The warrants are simple to write. The whole point of warrants is a check and balance system. The Feds should have to act just like the state and locals do.