Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

[TeeDub]

Wow.   I thought this was going to be all about how Obama was trampling our civil liberties even further.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html

...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.

[Breadburner]

I have the solution: tinfoil.

[Conan71]

Wow.   I thought this was going to be all about how Obama was trampling our civil liberties even further.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html

...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.

Imagine the hysteria if this story had come out two or three years ago.

[Red Arrow]

Imagine the hysteria if this story had come out two or three years ago.

Well, we were promised change.  Didn't say what kind.

[nathanm]

Well, we were promised change.  Didn't say what kind.

This isn't a change. It's a continuation of the status quo.

Also, I think this is a far cry from things like using IR cameras to peer inside your house or any of the other questionable activities whose results have been declared inadmissible in court in recent years.

My personal opinion is that it should be perfectly legal for the government to either use a direction finding scanner to locate you or to do the equivalent with the service provider's records. (basically locating which cell tower you're on, or other similarly course information) I don't think they should be able to misuse E911 GPS data to get that accurate a location.