The Massachusetts Constitution requires a warrant for tracking a person’s location using cell site location information (CSLI), unless law enforcement is searching a time period of six hours or less, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in an opinion in Commonwealth v. Estabrook Monday. Attorneys for Adam Bradley and Jason Estabrook argued that law enforcement shouldn't have been able to search or seize their phone records without first obtaining a warrant (see 1505070048). Arguing on behalf of the commonwealth, Jamie Michael Charles said because law enforcement knew the time of the murder they believed Bradley and Estabrook committed, they collected two weeks' worth of cellphone information but searched only a six-hour time frame around the time of the murder, so a warrant wasn’t needed. The American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation have written amicus briefs asking the court to close the six-hours-or-less loophole in the state’s warrant requirements for cellphones as authorized under Commonwealth v. Augustine (see 1504270048). The court partially agreed with the ACLU and EFF, saying the commonwealth’s request of two weeks of CSLI violates the state constitution, even if just six hours' worth of CSLI is used during a trial. In a blog post Monday, EFF Staff Attorney Andrew Crocker applauded that part of the court’s opinion, saying, “Too often law enforcement and intelligence agencies successfully argue that they should be able to access large amounts of private information as long as they only use a smaller amount.” However, Crocker expressed concern with the court’s decision not to end the six-hour loophole authorized in Augustine as well as the court’s decision to add a footnote in its opinion saying the exception to the warrant requirement for CSLI applies only to phone call CSLI and not registration CSLI. “Why should you have more protection when you walk around playing Words with Friends than when you actually exchange some words with a friend over the phone,” Crocker said.

The FCC released a memorandum of understanding with the Colombian Ministry of Information Technology and Communications agreeing to cooperate to fight mobile device theft. To “foster a vibrant and legitimate market for mobile devices,” rules need to “ensure consumers are protected from purchasing stolen devices,” the Monday memo said. The U.S. and Colombia said they plan to work with carriers to block activation or use of devices that have been identified as being stolen. They also pledged to take steps to disrupt the market for stolen handsets and share data on stolen handsets with other nations.

Just three days into the launch, Apple has sold more than 13 million iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones, “a new record,” the company said in a Monday announcement. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in more than 40 additional countries beginning Oct. 9, including Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Taiwan, Apple said. They'll be available in more than 130 countries by year-end, it said. “Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” CEO Tim Cook said.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen won’t yet tip his hand on pricing or distribution details about the Priv, his company’s first Android smartphone, Chen said on a Friday earnings call. “You'll have to wait for a little bit on that one,” Chen told a questioner who asked about the Priv’s gross margin and anticipated selling price. Chen conceded he “kind of jumped the gun" to announce the Priv as he did Friday “because it's leaking everywhere and I didn't think that it makes total logical sense for us to have this conversation when it's leaking everywhere and I won't talk about it.” Chen wanted only to confirm “that we are bringing our security know-how onto the Android ecosystem and we built a phone with the help of a lot of people, including working with Google,” he said of BlackBerry’s proprietary Enterprise Mobility Management security platform. BlackBerry has been “working on this strategy for a long time,” but “unfortunately it leaked, so I think it's best to let everybody know,” Chen said. BlackBerry has a pricing strategy in mind for the Priv, and “we are working with literally all the major carriers” to bring the Priv to market later in calendar 2015, he said: “The distribution strategy, you have to wait a little bit on that because we do have some choices.” The Priv, with a curved, “all-touch” screen, is BlackBerry’s “answer for former BlackBerry users who missed the physical keyboard” on BlackBerry devices, but also have come to rely on the ecosystem of apps available through the Google Play store, Chen said. The phone derives its name from “the BlackBerry core mission of protecting our customer's privacy,” he said. “That's how we thought about it.” Chen thinks the Priv’s “key takeaway here” is that BlackBerry continues to lead in the industry in mobile security, “and now we are bringing the BlackBerry security know-how into the Android ecosystem,” he said. “We can address a larger and growing segment of the enterprise space and we believed we could be a leader in this space.” Chen answered with a firm “absolutely” when asked whether it’s more “cost-effective” to bring the Android-based Priv to market than a BlackBerry 10-based device. That's because “a lot of the drivers” for the all the Android chipsets “are already in place,” he said. “I don't have to spend any time managing money for drivers,” he said. “I also don't have to do anything regarding the apps ecosystem, or the API surrounding that,” he said of Google’s application program interface protocols. “So all I need to do is to concentrate on security and the privacy features and add it to that ecosystem,” he said.

Amtrak told the FCC it supports a proposed commission plan to expand the existing Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas to take in small-facility deployments. Amtrak said it's not only putting in place positive train control along its lines, requiring licensing by the FCC, but also using other communications facilities in its stations and along its lines. “The evolution of communications technologies to ever smaller equipment is an exciting development in the field, with positive implications for telecommunications infrastructure deployment,” Amtrak said. Its filing was posted Monday in docket 15-180. In July, the Wireless Bureau sought comment on a proposal to expand the agreement.

The U.S.-based Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and Germany-based Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance said they agreed to work together on the deployment of 5G. The groups hope to "enable and support the timely delivery of 5G to the market,” a Monday news release said. “In the coming years, both parties intend to achieve this by working together in projects on 5G related issues and by carrying out joint 5G public relation measures.” ATIS President Susan Miller said the agreement underscores the importance of cooperation. "ATIS sees its agreement with NGMN as important to its leadership role in delivering 5G requirements focused on the North American market and contributing them to global efforts,” she said. “The goal is to deliver the long-promised convergence of all services onto a common framework, with corresponding enhancements to efficiency, security and service velocity."

Public safety agencies are using the 4.9 GHz spectrum, set aside for its use by the FCC more than a dozen years ago, APCO said in a report filed at the agency Monday. The band has been useful in meeting the wide-area video surveillance needs of public safety agencies and is a good option for video in emergency response vehicles, APCO said. Spurring use of the spectrum has been a long-standing FCC priority. In June 2012, the agency approved revised rules designed to boost utilization of the band (see 1206140066). APCO cited applications in California, New York City and Washington state, though it conceded the band remains underutilized. “Acceptance and deployment has been slower than anticipated and still remains behind projected, and optimal, numbers,” the report said. “The importance of the 4.9 GHz band to public safety is likely to grow substantially in the near future. The 4.9 GHz band is unique in offering public safety users agency-specific and localized options for supporting high bandwidth video and data communications.” APCO urged more emphasis on frequency coordination and said the FCC should allow for airborne and robotics use of the spectrum.

The U.S. has emerged as the global leader in 4G LTE and a slew of reports backs that up, Tom Sawanobori, CTIA chief technology officer, said Friday in a blog post. “We were one of the first countries to deploy 4G LTE starting in 2010 and have expanded coverage, deployed advanced technology and enabled high speed broadband networks to stay at the forefront,” he wrote. Sawanobori cited, among other reports, a recent finding by Mosaik Solutions that 82 percent of Americans -- 256 million people -- now have a choice of four or more LTE-based providers. “And U.S. carriers have invested more than $166 billion in their networks over the last six years, deploying the advanced LTE technology that is carrying the increasing volumes of data traffic consumers demand -- more than 4 trillion megabytes of data in 2014 alone,” he said.

AT&T added three wearables Friday targeted at fitness enthusiasts. Citing the rise in health-related information available, the company said wearables are a big part of helping consumers make healthy decisions based on heart rate, sleep and activity sensing. The Basis Peak ($199) packs four sensors to measure heart rate, motion, perspiration and skin temperature and tracks duration, stages and quality of sleep, AT&T said Thursday. The GPS-enabled Garmin vivoactive ($249) smartwatch comes preloaded with running, biking and golf apps. Users can pair it with their smartphone to receive alerts for incoming texts, calls and social media notifications, AT&T said. The Garmin vivofit 2 ($99) fitness tracker monitors steps and calories burned and tracks sleep quality that can be displayed on a smartphone app, AT&T said. The devices are available in select AT&T locations and at att.com.

The Internet was buzzing with anticipation for the next-generation iPhones heading into the smartphones’ release Friday. Retailers and carriers last week tried to push their way to the front of consumers’ eyes for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and advertising highlighted the upgraded finishes, led by the wildly popular rose gold along with silver, gray and gold. Engadget noted that the rose gold model had rose gold screws to match. Target is selling 6s and 6s Plus in stores only on the AT&T, Sprint and Verizon networks, it said. Sprint (see 1509240023) and T-Mobile touted consumer-friendly upgrade deals to get customers to swap up their still-valuable iPhone 6 phones. Verizon joined them, announcing its first iPhone upgrade plan that allows customers to get a new phone every year without having to wait for the contract to end. Carriers are competing now with Apple, which offers its own upgrade program promising “a new iPhone every year” starting at $32.41 a month. That could be trouble for companies including eco-ATM and Gazelle, whose business models rely heavily on the iPhone’s trade-in value. CNET focused on the 4K content creation capability of the iPhone 6s models, which it said will lead to a “surge” in user-generated 4K video. “The content that ushers in the age of 4K is likely to come from the stars and aspiring filmmakers on sites like YouTube and Vimeo, and from regular folks who shoot their baby's first steps or grandma's 80th birthday,” CNET said. Meanwhile, IHS forecasts a 22 percent jump in iPhone shipments this year versus 2014. “Sales of the iPhone 6S should do better than past iPhone initial sales because of wider country availability early, especially China,” said an IHS email, which forecast Apple will ship 236 million iPhones this year. The key differentiator this year for Apple is 3D Touch, which is “strongly differentiated from every other smartphone maker's phone,” IHS said. 3D Touch will power new apps that are exclusive to the iPhone “because Android smartphones lack the hardware support needed for a pressure sensitive screen,” it said. The pressure will be on Apple next year to continue to drive upgrade sales with a radical new design, IHS said. That will be “a greater challenge than achieving success in 2015,” when Apple was able to capitalize on sales of larger screen phones, it said.