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Police Don't Need a Warrant To Track Your Disposable Cellphone

New submitter Blindman writes "The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that it is okay for police to track your cellphone signal without a warrant. Using information about the cell tower that a prepaid cell phone was connected to, the police were able to track a suspected drug smuggler. Apparently, keeping your cellphone on is authorization for the police to know where you are. According to the ruling (PDF), '[The defendant] did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the data emanating from his cell phone that showed its location.' Also, 'if a tool used to transport contraband gives off a signal that can be tracked for location, certainly the police can track the signal.'"

2 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So it ends by fm6 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Forgive me, I didn't mean to interfere with your constitutional right to be melodramatic.

  2. Re:So it begins by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Funny

    (not sure what apple fans to, but normal phones can at least have their battery taken out easily and on-demand).

    Apple is actually leading the way in this regard. Some people say this is wrong, but I hear that you get the same effect simply by holding the phone a certain way...