Appeals Court OKs Warrantless, Real-Time Mobile Phone Tracking

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

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling 2-1, upheld a 20-year term for a drug courier nabbed with 1,100 pounds of marijuana in a motorhome camper the authorities tracked via his mobile phone pinging cell towers from Arizona to a Texas truck stop.

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 move.

» via Wired

Notes

  1. mentalitiesamazeme reblogged this from recycledfrockery
  2. recycledfrockery reblogged this from pod313
  3. pod313 reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  4. jormunsson reblogged this from lukethereitis and added:
    …. …. …. Run away, run and jump, run and hide Nothing can escape the coming tide…
  5. sityunderciege reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  6. lukethereitis reblogged this from infoneer-pulse and added:
    Whenever I sell someone a prepaid phone I always imagine they are a drug dealer. Now burn phones aren’t even safe.
  7. from-the-water reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  8. infoneer-pulse posted this