March 6, 2006
Police cell phone tracking without a warrent rejected by courts
Two federal judges join a growing number of courts that are rejecting police demands to be able to track Americans without first getting a warrant. News.com reports.
"Invoking the Patriot Act and other surveillance laws, the Feds try to track the location of a cell phone without providing any evidence of criminal activity.
The Justice Department's surveillance requests were denied in both cases.
The FBI and other police agencies often seek access to that location-tracking information, which can reveal the cell phone owner's movements. But only in the last few months have judges begun to scrutinize what have traditionally been routine tracking requests-- that scrutiny was first reported by Police Blotter in September--and concluding that police must show at least some evidence of actual criminal activity.
... if the Bush administration wants live tracking information without evidence of wrongdoing--that is, probable cause--"it needs to ask Congress to explicitly grant it such authority." -Judge Peck.
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