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 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.
Those claims have alarmed the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, which have opposed the Justice Department's request and plan to tell the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that Americans' privacy deserves more protection and judicial oversight than what the administration has proposed.
"This is a critical question for privacy in the 21st century," says Kevin Bankston, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who will be arguing on Friday. "If the courts do side with the government, that means that everywhere we go, in the real world and online, will be an open book to the government unprotected by the Fourth Amendment."
More from CNET
5 comments:
They attacked Bush for data mining and then Obama does this ?
This is who you all voted for to be our president. The one who is supposed to protect the constitution not abuse it. Well we ask ourselves, "what did we do?" Well for starters when you vote for someone simply becuase the color of their skin and not what they stand for, typically you run into the problem we are in now. I just find it really funny that Obama hid his communist motives by using the race card and saying what every president says on their campaign....."Change".....well we sure did make a change this time. Now the president spends more money on white house parties than anything useful, like maybe attempting to fix the economy. Spending money is apparently the solution to getting out of debt. Do you like the logic of the person you voted for? Obama is spending more time on tv and golfing than actually taking time to read the bills that his office is proposing. But, "Oh well" right , thats what everyone says when they know there is a problem,instead of taking a stand and taking over a corrupt government. It is our guns next people, Are you ok with that? Well most of you that voted for the idiot do not own weapons, well registered weapons, so you have not a thing to worry about. All I know is I am sick of sitting here watching this government ruin the place my future kids will be growing up. Maybe someday people will wake up and see the real side of what this guy and his followers are doing to our country. Until then I will fight against any proposal that goes against my constitutional rights. Thanks Joe for this wonderful article on top of the numerous others posted on your site.
I have no problem with the monitoring if there is a true possible threat ,but what bothers me is that when president bush was doing it the press painted a nazi regime picture but when the "savior " does it no major press coverage and the aclu nuts are quiet as the dead of night
I never saw a post like this when Bush was President and recording every electronic communication within the United States. Why is that?
10:34 your facts are bunk Bush wanted to track known terrorists and the Socialists were up in arms !
Post a Comment