Thursday, February 11, 2010

Obama Wants To Track Cellphones - Says, Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts

We have no reasonable expectation of privacy? WTF?

From CNet:

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
That seems pretty clear to me, but then, my brain is not capable of the labyrinthine nuance achieved by the Obama intellect.

1 comment:

Michael Travis said...

The reason that US Cellphone systems/technology is 10 to 15 years behind the rest of the world is because we would not adopt the GSM protocols (as used in Europe) without the ability for our STATE to conduct warrant-less "tapping" of the mobile phone system.

This is a very, very, old story.

Thank you Bill Clinton /// stay healthy... don't have a heart attack.