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Florida Supreme Court: Police Can't Grab Cell Tower Data Without a Warrant
SternisheFan writes with an excerpt from Wired with some (state-specific, but encouraging) news about how much latitude police are given to track you based on signals like wireless transmissions. The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that obtaining cell phone location data to track a person's location or movement in real time constitutes a Fourth Amendment search and therefore requires a court-ordered warrant.
The case specifically involves cell tower data for a convicted drug dealer that police obtained from a telecom without a warrant. But the way the ruling is written (.pdf), it would also cover the use of so-called "stingrays" — sophisticated technology law enforcement agencies use to locate and track people in the field without assistance from telecoms. Agencies around the country, including in Florida, have been using the technology to track suspects — sometimes without obtaining a court order, other times deliberately deceiving judges and defendants about their use of the devices to track suspects, telling judges the information came from "confidential" sources rather than disclose their use of stingrays. The new ruling would require them to obtain a warrant or stop using the devices. The American Civil Liberties Union calls the Florida ruling "a resounding defense" of the public's right to privacy.
The case specifically involves cell tower data for a convicted drug dealer that police obtained from a telecom without a warrant. But the way the ruling is written (.pdf), it would also cover the use of so-called "stingrays" — sophisticated technology law enforcement agencies use to locate and track people in the field without assistance from telecoms. Agencies around the country, including in Florida, have been using the technology to track suspects — sometimes without obtaining a court order, other times deliberately deceiving judges and defendants about their use of the devices to track suspects, telling judges the information came from "confidential" sources rather than disclose their use of stingrays. The new ruling would require them to obtain a warrant or stop using the devices. The American Civil Liberties Union calls the Florida ruling "a resounding defense" of the public's right to privacy.
Do you want innocents to be destroyed by the terrorists and criminals that badly? The only way to stop that from happening is to give up some privacy in exchange for safety. Any true lover of Small Government knows that.
I'm Thinkin' Small.
I would immediately dismiss as unverifiable. There is NO WAY to prove chain of custody if you're not being given the CoC right back to and INCLUDING the source.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Carrying a tracking device is not a good idea if you don't want to be tracked. Cellphones are basically tracking devices that also place phone calls and take photos of incriminating evidence.
Leave your phone at home when doing naughty things - it will give you an alibi!
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
How quaint...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Florida Supreme Court rules that a bunch of criminals who broke the most sacred laws of the land, won't get punished for their previous crimes.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
So we need to arrest those that have, lets not mince words... have done so, not allegedly....with crime.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
I consider my phone to be "papers and effects" pretty heavily. Everyone does. That this was even a question is pretty annoying.
Why do they want to hide what the Stingray can do when people think they already know what it does? Because it allows them to do a lot more than just track a cell phone in an area.
At the lowest level of LTE the provider can take control of the phone at a lower level than the operating system. Thus there is a tremendous amount of access to what the phone has other than location. They can turn on the microphone and listen and access other phone capabilities which makes it a much more powerful tool than just knowing the location of a handset or person in an area.
It does allow knowledge of the location down to meters and the number of active devices and locations within an area. This allows the operator to know how many people are in a building and map their locations and movements in real time.
My guess is that our government wants drugs to be sold and that those in charge of the system somehow gain either money or position by making such a decision. There is a balance of rights and the simple truth is that almost all crimes involve drugs or alcohol. Even the right to drive to work without being slaughtered by some drunk or stoned fool driving a car or truck is more basic that data from cell phone towers being private. Frankly our country has done so little to stop drugs that I don't place much faith in their claim of wanting to stop drugs. It is like illegal immigration. We could stop that with great ease if we wished. It is a no brainer. Simply insist upon every employee being checked by the authorities before any work or pay changes hands and confiscate homes or businesses that hire an illegal worker. A national ID would be of great help as well. No ID no work! The simple fact is that businesses love illegal workers a lot and they lobby to keep the borders leaking admissions.
"other times deliberately deceiving judges and defendants"
"All warfare is based on deception." - Sun Tzu
What we have is a National Security State at war with the domestic population.
I would just like to say /. needs a new icon for cellphone stories. The current one looks more like a calculator, even if its tooltip disagrees. I think maybe it ought to be one of those goofy looking bricks with an antenna we used to see sitting in the middle of tables last century.
However (careful what you wish for), please don't use an iBauble instead. That'd just be flamebait.
Carry on. Just a suggestion.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
If it's truly a 4th amendment issue then it applies everywhere in the US.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Should say, "police, and military" require a warrant. because the NSA, and US military, they will keep on doing this even though a warrant is required first. they will nab it, save it, analyze it with algorithms like Google does, and apply all sorts of filters to sort through it automatically.
because the militaries operations are hidden from the courts, they will get to keep doing it and the court will pretend a warrant is required for it's use but that only ends up applying IN COURT IF YOU ARE PROSECUTED AND IF THEY VIOLATED THE RULES THEIR CASE AGAINST YOU CAN BE DISMISSED.
This is all "requiring a warrant" means. It does not mean they can't do it, it just means they can't use the evidence in court against you..
So the spying continues, and will continue.. Definitely on the side of the US military. And then the methods of evidence was obtained can still be hidden if they pass it around, just like it's being done currently.
The police also won't call this out as illegal, there is nothing that compels them to want to go against the military, federal government, or higher ups instructions or practices.
http://www.obamasweapon.com/
...I've seen evidence from cell phone towers subpoenaed for an investigation. It's pretty interesting - they used surveillance camera photos from several establishments, including the one involved in the crime, but also spent a lot of time proving that the phones belonging to the targets of the investigation were in proximity to the crime as it was being committed.
And I don't think there's much oversight. I see a lot of opinions from the parties involved that, "well, it's just an indictment. If there's something unfair about this, it'll come out at the trial." I suspect my fellow jurors would indict the suspect who police handcuffed *after* they shot him to death, if the AUSA asked them.
Sleep well, citizens! (Posted anonymously for obvious reasons.)
Florida has long been known as a right wing stronghold. They reversed the election that lead to Bush2 being elected. They routinely fight to eliminate the poor and potentially Democrat voters from elections.
That their Supreme Court chose this path is refreshing. Let's hope that there is a trend among the Florida political elite toward respect for those who are not wealthy, those who deserve justice.
...omphaloskepsis often...
"Police Can't Grab Cell Tower Data Without a Warrant"
Of course they can, they do it all the time.
I just renewed my membership. NO ONE fights for liberty in the U.S. like the ACLU!
Bleah. Getting a warrant for tracking a convicted dope dealer shouldn't be hard. Someone saw him deal dope again - probable cause and all that. What the can't do is track random people on a whim.
18 months from now, nobody will remember this case -- which is a blink of the eye, given the timetable of most judicial actions. The Florida Court referenced here has issued an opinion that would almost certainly be overturned upon appeal. Yes, the Court drew its line in the sand, but its holding is not consistent with precedents of higher-level Federal courts, which have jurisdiction over this state matter because of the Constitutional issues it raises. The time we spend on this page is wasted time we'll never get back. Like so many SD pages these days.