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Feds Have Access To Cellphone Tracking On Request

Posted by Zonk on from the always-fun-to-carry-your-phone dept.

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.'"

8 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. This just in by pwnies · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and in unrelated news, Reynolds America Inc. ( http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RAI ) reported a rise in their stock price following record sales in their aluminium and tin foil divisions.

    1. Re:This just in by garbletext · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Tinfoil hats are for conspiracy theorists. When your fears of an abusive government prove to be true, you're a liberal.

    2. Re:This just in by anagama · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When your fears of an abusive government prove to be true, you're a liberal.

      Or a conservative constitutional scholar.
      http://www.americanfreedomagenda.org/
      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    3. Re:This just in by neomunk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's cute.

      The biggest problem with your attempt at humor is the fact that people used to talk about tinfoil hats when people SUGGESTED something like this could happen, now people are delegated to the tinfoil hat crowd for COMPLAINING about this stuff happening.

      When will it get to the point where the people who AREN'T paranoid about being constantly watched are mocked as the fools? Or is this subtle transition between 'you're crazy, that'll never happen' and 'what are you worried about, you're not a terrorist are you?' all the recognition the tinfoil hat people get for being right all along?

  2. Another Reason by ewhenn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Another Reason by rueger · · Score: 4, Interesting
      But I wonder, can "they" track me even when I turn the "feature" off? Maybe "they" see through the little camera on the phone? Can "they" hear waht I'm saying even when the phone is "closed"?

      Yes. From 2006.

      Cell phone users, beware. The FBI can listen to everything you say, even when the cell phone is turned off. A recent court ruling in a case against the Genovese crime family revealed that the FBI has the ability from a remote location to activate a cell phone and turn its microphone into a listening device that transmits to an FBI listening post, a method known as a "roving bug." Experts say the only way to defeat it is to remove the cell phone battery. "The FBI can access cell phones and modify them remotely without ever having to physically handle them," James Atkinson, a counterintelligence security consultant, told ABC News. "Any recently manufactured cell phone has a built-in tracking device, which can allow eavesdroppers to pinpoint someone's location to within just a few feet," he added.
      --
      Three Squirrels
  3. somebody log in and repeat this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I *just* heard a news story about this a day or so ago- take it seriously!
    A car was stolen by three guys, and the guys rammed a police car during the chase.
    The police opened fire on the vehicle, killing the driver. They also wounded one of two other guys in the car who bailed and ran off into the night.

    Here's the part that made me take notice: The news guy said that by using the cellphone number of the driver, they located and captured the other two guys within 20 minutes... by using location tracking of the fugitive's cellphones.

    Considering that a) the driver was dead and b) they didn't know who the other two guys were when they bailed out of the car and took off, 20 minutes seemed awfully fast. But how can you track down a cell phone's location without knowing the number or who the owner is?

    This means (obviously) that there must be an easily accessible database tracking both caller history (to find out who you called, or called you) AND those people's current locations. I knew things like this were in place for DHS and the FBI (a lot of bank robbers get caught because they have cell phones on them or in their cars), but that local LE had access to this stuff was a surprise.

    That means that you and I, joe geek guy, are already in this thing.
    Pretty cool, huh? It's *way* too late for tinfoil.

  4. Re:Listen up by garbletext · · Score: 4, Funny

    As a radical drug-dealing terrorist pedophile, I have to disagree.