Tracking people by cellphone location is a “widespread” practice by...
Tracking people by cellphone location is a “widespread” practice by U.S. law enforcement and frequently done “without adequate regard for constitutional protections, judicial oversight, or accountability,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report (http://xrl.us/bmz7tc) released Saturday. The government…
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should have to obtain a warrant showing probable cause before tracking phones, ACLU said. ACLU said it filed more than 380 public records requests with state and local law enforcement agencies. Of the 200 that responded, only 10 agencies said they didn’t track cellphones, ACLU said. And “only a tiny minority reported consistently obtaining a warrant and demonstrating probable cause to do so,” it said. “While that result is of great concern, it also shows that a warrant requirement is a completely reasonable and workable policy.” Law enforcement can track a phone’s location because the device registers its location with the network several times while getting a wireless signal, ACLU said. “The threat to personal privacy presented by this technology is breathtaking,” ACLU said. “To know a person’s location over time is to know a great deal about who a person is and what he or she values."