Slashdot Mirror
Feds Have Access To Cellphone Tracking On Request
Mike writes "According to a Washington Post article, federal officials are routinely asking and getting courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data on subscribers. The data is used to pinpoint the whereabouts of 'criminal suspects', according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without even requiring the government to demonstrate probable cause that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime 'Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives. Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied.'"
Another reason I prefer not to own a cell phone. Modern ones all have at least rudimentary location tracking built in. With the way the US Govt. abuses powers it shouldn't have, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they will try to exploit it so they can track people "in need of public safety"... because we all know how the average American (and yes, I'm an American citizen, so I'm bashing my own country, not yours) will roll over and play dead anytime the Govt. pulls out the safety card. It's pathetic.
I'm normally the first to whine, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Judges are required. Isn't that how we want surveillance to work?
There is an element of truth to this. The practical effect of this is to spread fear and apprehension among "innocent nobodies" who happen to be paying attention. The myth of government omniscience (and, by extension, omnipotence) is a powerful tool of preemptive social control.
It's like torture. Newsflash: the people who torture know it doesn't really "work" on (i.e., produce valuable information from) the victims. It's a form of state terrorism -- it works best on the rest of us.
Sent from the iPad I found in your car.
Good. It's about time they weed out the criminally stupid.
What moron doesn't know they can buy a throw away cell from Walmarts for cash?
If you're dumb enough to be a crook AND use a traceable (i.e. contracted) cell phone you deserve what you get.
Tinfoil hats are for conspiracy theorists. When your fears of an abusive government prove to be true, you're a liberal.
And you seriously think this is different anywhere else? Western European nations, for example, were routinely tapping phone conversations of their own citizens behind the iron curtain, without probable cause or any other justification and nobody even raised much of an eyebrow about it. In the US, people at least make a fuss about it.
I feel like privacy issues are incredibly important... and that I'm the only one who feels this way. Well, me and my friends who read slashdot. And the four libertarians I know.
The government only does this stuff because they feel like they can get away with it, that's what kills me.
spacefem.com
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
It does not on GSM (dunno about American specific tech).
GSM needs to keep track of phone locations very precisely because the primary means of synchronising the phone to the network is by altering the timing advance which tells the phone when to start transmitting.
3G is nowhere near to GSM in terms of location precision. In uses reflected signals in a positive feedback filter to improve the phone signal to noise ratio. If you look at the data before the filter you cannot make sense of it (it is combined with the rest of signal processing). If you look at the data after the filter you no longer have a true measurement of the signal produced by the phone. You have a measurement of a function of that signal combined with all reflections. As a result you no longer have the same precision on the measurement of time between the phone and the radio access network as in GSM. From there on you can no longer determine the phone locations as precisely.
So I would not be surprised that the drive to bundle GPS in newer phones has something to do with it. For the older ones (especially GSM) it was totally unnecessary. You could get their location down to a meter in some places.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Or a conservative constitutional scholar.
http://www.americanfreedomagenda.org/
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
A rubber-stamp judge slows things down for no useful purpose. You might as well just let the FBI write their own warrants.
A real judge that does his job will slow things down to make sure only people who really should be under surveillance are put under surveillance.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.