Local cops using cell phones to track citizens without warrants | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Ever evolving technology continues to exceed the ability of the law to adapt to the new threats to our inalienable rights (i.e., those natural rights that exist by the grace of God and not by man-made law) by over-zealous law enforcement people.

    There was a time when the law provided that one's mail could not be opened without a search warrant. Now we have reports that every email and phone conversation is collected by the government and stored in huge data bases such that for whatever reason so officials believes is necessary those data may be mined to find every communication you have had with anyone, whether criminal or a threat to national security (which is the original justification for such surveillance).

    Now we learn that local law enforcement is using cellphone data to track the whereabouts and movements of law-abiding American citizens. That is a far cry from what the framers of the Bill of Rights intended.

    USA Today has the story:

    The National Security Agency isn't the only government entity secretly collecting data from people's cellphones. Local police are increasingly scooping it up, too.

    Armed with new technologies, including mobile devices that tap into cellphone data in real time, dozens of local and state police agencies are capturing information about thousands of cellphone users at a time, whether they are targets of an investigation or not, according to public records obtained by USA TODAY and Gannett newspapers and TV stations.

    The records, from more than 125 police agencies in 33 states, reveal:

    • About one in four law-enforcement agencies have used a tactic known as a "tower dump," which gives police data about the identity, activity and location of any phone that connects to the targeted cellphone towers over a set span of time, usually an hour or two. A typical dump covers multiple towers, and wireless providers, and can net information from thousands of phones.

    • At least 25 police departments own a Stingray, a suitcase-size device that costs as much as $400,000 and acts as a fake cell tower. The system, typically installed in a vehicle so it can be moved into any neighborhood, tricks all nearby phones into connecting to it and feeding data to police. In some states, the devices are available to any local police department via state surveillance units. The federal government funds most of the purchases, via anti-terror grants.

    Click here to go to the original source to read the rest of the story.

    Commentary

    We repeat what we've said in response to previous readers who contend: "you having nothing to fear if you're not doing something illegal..." If you believe that then do a little research on the history of the Fourth Amendment, including the roots of protection from unreasonable searches and seizures back to medival England. Simply stated, we believe strongly that every American has a right to privacy  -  to be left alone  -  unless they are violating the law and the authorities have probable cause to believe a particular crime has been or is being committed. A fundamental right is to be free from "fishing expeditions" conducted by law enforcement official, some of whom simply want to intimidate and harass law abiding citizens. Someone has said that the average citizen is subject at any given time and place to over 7,000 laws and regulations for which they could be prosecuted. One official told us: "give me enough access on anybody and I can find a reason to arrest them."

    We have no problem with our phone message or other electronic "foot prints" being subject to search by authorities, IF they have a search warrant. If they have probable cause then they can get a warrant. If they don't have sufficient probable cause then they should not be allowed to snoop on otherwise law abiding citizens. It's just that simple.

    Now, with regard to the techniques used as described in this story we have done a little research and here is what we have been told of security experts:

    Your cell phone "pings" the network as often as every few minutes. These pings are recorded in the cell phone database. Thus they show not only where a cell phone is, but where it has been, and thus, where it may likely be going. Even if you are not using your phone it is still communicating with the tower and thus a record is being kept. And some phones have GPS capability, whereby certain apps determine and broadcast the longitude and latitude of the phone. Our source says: "the only way you can prevent this is to take the battery out of the phone when you do not want it being tracked. Of course some crooks take advantage of this system to "plant" cell phones as decoys in certain areas to sidetrack snoopers. And most people know that prepaid cells phones are much more secure than phones attached to an account of record.