Cell-Phone Tracking: Laws Needed
The cell phone industry and privacy advocates are urging Congress to adopt clear, standardized rules regarding the use of mobile phones to track suspects. At ACM’s recent Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference, a panel agreed that Congress should write rules governing what level of suspicion police need to have before tracking people through their cell phones.
Law enforcement is currently allowed to track suspects using their cell phones without probable cause, a practice the Justice Department says is sanctioned by a combination of wiretap laws governing stored communications plus a law that lets law enforcement learn the phone numbers people dial.
However, eight out of the 10 judges who have published decisions since August have rejected the DOJ’s legal arguments. “We’ve seen an avalanche of…decisions rejecting the government’s hybrid theory,” said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, during the panel discussion. “For several years, the DOJ has been successfully pulling the wool over the eyes of magistrates.”
Bankston added that some of the legal uncertainty may be resolved soon, since the DOJ has filed an objection in at least one case.
Other members of the panel, including Catholic University of America law professor Clifford Fishman, did not understand the fuss over law enforcement tracking cell phones without a probable cause. “The government has legitimate reasons to follow people,” he said. “This is the technology law enforcement needs to get the probable cause to search you, arrest you, and throw you in jail.”
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from Wired News (05/08/06); Singel, Ryan .
