Appeals Court OKs Warrantless, Real-Time Mobile Phone Tracking

Appeals Court OKs Warrantless, Real-Time Mobile Phone Tracking

www.wired.com

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.

The decision, a big boost for the government’s surveillance powers, comes as prosecutors are shifting their focus to warrantless cell-tower location tracking of suspects in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling in January sharply limiting the use of GPS vehicle trackers. The Supreme Court found law enforcement should acquire probable-cause warrants from judges to affix GPS devices to vehicles and monitor their every

(visit the link for the full news article)

Mmmm? Right that's it then..........it's over.

Now, I'll just state for the record that I'm no criminal, but this is a tad off? I'm effectively paying the government to spy on me if they want. What next? Devices fitted in the soles of shoes?

This is bad people.

Now, I'm sure if used in a "good" way, like forensics etc it will be a good thing, but I can't help but think it will be miss used in some way. Can you?

www.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by CaptainBeno


That's why molst smart phones have security features built in, like the ability to wipe your phone in less than 5 seconds, and the ability to turn off your GPS tracking chip, customers demand this stuff, so company's provide it, just check to make sure you get the right ones. That's why they culdnt GPS the bare foot bandit, he had a phone that can't be GPS tracked unless you let them.

Now that the government is watching everything we do.. Who is watching them? It sure as hell isn't the media.

Oh, and those cell phone towers.. Hideous. Who knows how much radiation those things are pumping out each and every day.

reply to post by CaptainBeno


Well no doubt this is a gross invasion of privacy, however none of us are forced to own cell phones. Sadly most people will complain and just take it rather than give up the gadgets.

POS judges, defend the constitution my ass!

The only thing our judges defend and uphold is the rule of tyrannical, fascist law and further oppression and stripping the rights of the people. This judge and all the rest of those like this one should be taken out in the streets and hanged for treason and sedition.

This is how our nation will be destroyed, by "interpreting" the constitution to fit their agenda instead of upholding the constitution. America can survive its fools and follies but it will nevver survive treason from within.

just jailbreak or root your phone

there are apps for mac spoofing and udid switchers,etc
it's allso possible to hijack a nearby phone and make calls through it


learn to use the tech and you can turn the tables or put out false data

This is why I refuse to own a cellphone. Not worth it. Weighing the pros and cons, the cons outweigh the pros by tons.

This doesn't surprise me. The government invading our privacy and taking away our rights is becoming the new norm unfortunately.

I wonder how much the judge was paid to ok this?

Originally posted by inverslyproportional
That's why molst smart phones have security features built in, like the ability to wipe your phone in less than 5 seconds, and the ability to turn off your GPS tracking chip, customers demand this stuff, so company's provide it, just check to make sure you get the right ones. That's why they culdnt GPS the bare foot bandit, he had a phone that can't be GPS tracked unless you let them.

There are two ways to track a cell phone location. Using the built in GPS tracking chip is the accurate method and with some phones you may be able to turn that off and still use the phone.

The other method of locating a cell phone is less accurate (maybe within 100 meters or less, depending on many factors), but it doesn't require the use of a GPS chip. It uses the cell towers to triangulate the location. The way to defeat this would be to remove the battery, but of course that's like not even having a cell phone because you can't make or receive any calls until you put the battery back in.

Mobile phone tracking

Mobile phone tracking refers to the attaining of the current position of a mobile phone, stationary or moving. Localization may occur either via multilateration of radio signals between (several) radio towers of the network and the phone, or simply via GPS.

Look at what the wiki says about this privacy issue:

Locating or positioning touches upon delicate privacy issues, since it enables someone to check where a person is without the person's consent. Strict ethics and security measures are strongly recommended for services that employ positioning, and the user must give an informed, explicit consent to a service provider before the service provider can compute positioning data from the user's mobile phone.

So much for consent after reading the OP.

What about eavesdropping?

Officially, the authorities (like the police) can obtain permission to position phones in emergency cases where people (including criminals) are missing. The U.S. Justice Department has argued that current laws allow them to track suspects without having probable cause to suspect a law is being violated.[8] In some instances law enforcement may even access a mobile phone's internal microphone to eavesdrop on local conversations while the phone is switched off.

Eavesdropping on local conversations while the phone is switched off? Can they do this without a warrant also?

Another reason I say take the battery out. Switching off may not be enough.

This topic has already been posted in Breaking Alternative News here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Please continue the discussion there,

Thread Closed.