Appeals Court OKs Warrantless, Real-Time Mobile Phone Tracking

[fred037]

Now, no need to be wondering anymore...

"A federal appeals court on Wednesday said the authorities do not need a probable-cause warrant to track a suspect’s every move via GPS signals from a suspect’s mobile phone..."

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/warrantless-gps-phone-tracking/

[Maestro]

Doesn'nt surprise me... Nothing is private anymore!

[mrvegas63]

Well, the headline/recap is alarming, however, the actual ruling is a bit more complicated.

Cops screwed up in that they had sufficient evidence that they presented to a judge, to get an order for the cell company to turn over records for a known burner cellphone, when they should have applied for a warrant. But since sufficient evidence was provided (19 pages) for the order, the court determined that there was no misconduct, hence conviction stands.

The disenting judge basically agreed with the guys conviction, but, felt past case law cited was not meaningful to judges ruling. Could well be true, and might get to Supremes, but appears to me, this is case law already fairly well established:

https://ssd.eff.org/3rdparties/govt/court-order

Standard disclaimer: IANAL, but there is a Holiday Express near-by.

[jackg720]

To go along this topic wait until the drones are flying over the country then the rest of your privacy (electronic or otherwise) will be totally gone.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/64-drone-bases-on-us-soil/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/expanding-drone-legislation-raising-an-alarm-with-the-american-public/

[mrvegas63]

Came upon these yesterday. First, a better summary than most I've seen, of what the case and judgement was:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/federal-court-rules-cops-can-warantlessly-track-suspects-via-cellphone/

And, this same site reposted a blog from the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think-tank. Long-ish, and gets into previous case law and how it was improperly applied to this case:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/how-a-drug-mule-named-big-wolf-helped-create-terrible-gps-search-law/

[FatDog]

who gives a shit, if they're gonna spy on you, ain't nothing you can do about it.

[Bit Banger]

... if they're gonna spy on you, ain't nothing you can do about it.

Unfortunately, this is so true. The best defense is to never get on their radar.

[Ghost_Rider]

You can always just turn off your phone

[Guest dlowsmith]

I would recommend ONLY using prepaid cell phones and when not in use take the battery out to insure nobody can track you. Cell phones can be triangulated even if they are "off" and there are software programs they can upload to turn it into a two way listening devise. Also keep in mind that there are scanners (mostly restricted by the FCC now) that can pick up cell phone and cordless phone transmissions. I knew a guy that had one and he brought it out and turned it on. Kind of an eye opener. Watch what you say even if you think nobody is listening.

[jackg720]

I would recommend ONLY using prepaid cell phones and when not in use take the battery out to insure nobody can track you. Cell phones can be triangulated even if they are "off" and there are software programs they can upload to turn it into a two way listening devise. Also keep in mind that there are scanners (mostly restricted by the FCC now) that can pick up cell phone and cordless phone transmissions. I knew a guy that had one and he brought it out and turned it on. Kind of an eye opener. Watch what you say even if you think nobody is listening.

FYI you can go into radio shack (or obviously online) and get a decent scanner, google how to modify it and with a snip here or resistor there...you can once again scan cell phones and wireless phones. Most stores wont tell you how to do it but most of them know. This shit isnt rocket science with modern technology.