Live Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
Date: December 9, 2005 10:24:44 PM EST
To: EPIC_IDOF () mailman epic org
Subject: [EPIC_IDOF] Live Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court  
Fights on Privacy

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/10/technology/10phone.html? 
ei=5094&en=4dace02
ac3105d11&hp=&ex=1134190800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

December 10, 2005
Live Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy

By MATT RICHTEL

Most Americans carry cellphones, but many may not know that government
agencies can track their movements through the signals emanating from  
the
handset.

In recent years, law enforcement officials have turned to cellular
technology as a tool for easily and secretly monitoring the movements of
suspects as they occur. But this kind of surveillance - which  
investigators
have been able to conduct with easily obtained court orders - has now  
come
under tougher legal scrutiny.

In the last four months, three federal judges have denied prosecutors  
the
right to get cellphone tracking information from wireless companies  
without
first showing "probable cause" to believe that a crime has been or is  
being
committed. That is the same standard applied to requests for search
warrants.

The rulings, issued by magistrate judges in New York, Texas and  
Maryland,
underscore the growing debate over privacy rights and government
surveillance in the digital age.

With mobile phones becoming as prevalent as conventional phones  
(there are
195 million cellular subscribers in this country), wireless companies  
are
starting to exploit the phones' tracking abilities. For example,  
companies
are marketing services to users that turn their phones into even more
precise global positioning devices for driving or allowing parents to  
track
the whereabouts of their children through the handsets.

Not surprisingly, law enforcement agencies want to exploit this  
technology,
too - which means more courts are bound to wrestle with what legal  
standard
applies when government agents ask to conduct such surveillance.

Cellular operators like Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless know,  
within
about 300 yards, the location of their subscribers whenever a phone is
turned on. Even if the phone is not in use it is communicating with
cellphone tower sites, and the wireless provider keeps track of the  
phone's
position as it travels. The operators have said that they turn over  
location
information when presented with a court order to do so.

The recent rulings by the magistrates, who are appointed by a  
majority of
the federal district judges in a given court, do not bind other  
courts. But
they could significantly curtail access to cell location data if other
jurisdictions adopt the same reasoning. (The government's requests in  
the
three cases, with their details, were sealed because they involve
investigations still under way.)

...

Richard
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