E-tracking through your cell phone

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>]

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E-tracking through your cell phone 



By Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/E-tracking+through+your+cell+phone/2010-1039_3-6038468.h
tml 

Story last modified Mon Feb 13 06:24:49 PST 2006 
 
You may already know this, but your cell phone happens to be a miniature
tracking device that can be used to monitor your location from afar. 

There are times when knowing your exact location is useful, of course. It
would be handy for a phone to help you find a gas station in a pinch, or
bleep when you're about to take the wrong highway exit. 


Cell phone surveillance


In a string of cases that was first reported by CNET News.com, federal
judges have wrestled with whether to permit warrantless tracking of the
location of cell phones. Some of the representative cases from last year: 

Aug.
<http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Cell+phone+tracking+rejected/2100-1030_3
-5846037.html?tag=nl> 25, 2005: Judge James Orenstein denies surveillance
request

Oct.
<http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Feds+cell+phone+tracking+denied/2100-102
8_3-5919845.html?tag=nl> 14, 2005: Judge Stephen Smith denies surveillance
request. 

Dec.
<http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Judge+lets+Feds+track+cell+phones/2100-1
028_3-6006453.html?tag=nl> 20, 2005: Judge Gabriel Gorenstein approves
surveillance request.

But the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have seized on the ability to
locate a cellular customer and are using it to track Americans' whereabouts
surreptitiously--even when there's no evidence of wrongdoing. 

A pair of court decisions in the last few weeks shows that judges are split
on whether this is legal. One federal magistrate judge in Wisconsin on Jan.
17 ruled it was unlawful, but another nine days later in Louisiana decided
that it was perfectly OK. 

This is an unfortunate outcome, not least because it shows that some judges
are reluctant to hold federal agents and prosecutors to the letter of the
law. 

It's also unfortunate because it demonstrates that the FBI swore never to
use a 1994 surveillance law to track cellular phones--but then, secretly,
went ahead and did it, anyway. 

FBI officials swore never to use a 1994 surveillance law to track cellular
phones but are doing it, anyway. 

When lobbying for that law, the Communications
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epic.org%2Fprivacy%2Fwiret
ap%2Fcalea%2Fcalea_law.html&siteId=3&oId=/Police+blotter+Judge+lets+Feds+tra
ck+cell+phones/2100-1028_3-6006453.html&ontId=1035&lop=nl.ex> Assistance for
Law Enforcement Act, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh assured the U.S. Senate
that location surveillance would never take place unless there was evidence
of wrongdoing. 

"It does not include any information which might disclose the general
location of a mobile facility or service, beyond that associated with the
area code or exchange of the facility or service," Freeh testified
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpolitechbot.com%2Fdocs%2Ffreeh
.calea.testimony.021006.txt&siteId=3&oId=/Police+blotter+Judge+lets+Feds+tra
ck+cell+phones/2100-1028_3-6006453.html&ontId=1035&lop=nl.ex> . "There is no
intent whatsoever, with reference to this term, to acquire anything that
could properly be called 'tracking' information." 

So much for promises from politicians. 

...

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