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The Government Can No Longer Track Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant

Posted by samzenpus on from the doing-the-paperwork dept.

Jason Koebler (3528235) writes The government cannot use cell phone location data as evidence in a criminal proceeding without first obtaining a warrant, an appeals court ruled today, in one of the most important privacy decisions in recent memory. "In short, we hold that cell site location information is within the subscriber's reasonable expectation of privacy," the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled. "The obtaining of that data without a warrant is a Fourth Amendment violation."

5 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. FP? by dosius · · Score: 5, Informative

    Doesn't mean they won't keep doing it anyway.

    --
    What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
    1. Re:FP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      No they can't. Google fruit of the poisonous tree.

      Google parallel construction.

    2. Re:FP? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Informative

      No they can't. Google fruit of the poisonous tree.

      And then google "parallel construction", which is designed to side step the whole poisonous tree and pretend like it never happened.

      In other words, it's a strategy of law enforcement to lie about the origins of a case so they can use illegal or flimsy evidence to prosecute you anyway.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:FP? by mellonhead · · Score: 5, Informative
      Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

      http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805/

      U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans

      Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.

      The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial.

  2. That doesn't mean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They actually have a name for it now, "Parallel Construction". Its where they use illegal evidence to locate a suspect/evidence, then they use some excuse (traffic stop, low level crime, etc) to search the suspect, and then lie/"forget" about where the initial information came from. An example is using illegal phone, email or internet taps to find a suspected drug runner, then pulling over that person when they're out driving to search their car for any evidence.