Cell Phones, Missing Persons, and Privacy

An anonymous reader sends in a Seattle PI story about the use of cell phone records in missing-person cases. Typically, phone companies turn over location information to police without a warrant if one of their customers is reported missing; the police need only to state that the person may be in danger. In any criminal case, a warrant from a judge would be required before the telcos divulged any information. While in some poster-child cases lives have been saved as a result of this practice, it seems like a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen. It is not a crime to go missing.

Comments

Re:It is not a crime to go missing.

[x2A]

Lets say I'm just a crazy person who's attracted to bright lights, and the feeling of a sharp knife going though soft flesh... better turn off all your lights too then!

Dear Police:

[Jane Q. Public]

I am disappearing on purpose. Have a nice day. Sincerely, Jane.

Re:But "It's for the children!"

[jamesh]

Yes, with skull mounted trackers we'd finally have the correct answer to the question "It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are?". You'd just whip out the offspring locater, press a few buttons, and you'd know instantly where they are.

Or at least where their skull is.

Re:It is not a crime to go missing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe he's thinking of Robocop-style consent:

'You have 20 seconds to comply!'

Re:It is not a crime to go missing.

[exploder]

Or a Bat-signal.