And Justice For All?

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

   Welcome ladies and gentlemen to TwisT’s government class. Now we all have some particular thought on the rights we have. That big brother shouldn’t be able to do certain things because of constitutional rights. Now he is a particularly interesting question. Do you believe that government agencies like the FBI, and police agencies should have to obtain a warrant to access information like your location via your personal cell phone?

   The answer to the question isn’t important, Because the Department of Justice stated in a Federal appeals court that no agency be it a police department or all the way up to the FBI, do not need to obtain a search warrant to learn the locations of Americans' cell phones.

A DOJ attorney while addressing the Third Circuit Court of Appeals stated that: There "is no constitutional bar" to acquiring "routine business records held by a communications service provider," said Mark Eckenwiler, one of the DOJ’s senior attorneys in the criminal division of the Justice Department. He then added: "The government is not required to use a warrant when it uses a tracking device."

This is the first Federal appeals court to address warrantless location tracking. This of course brings forward the novel thoughts of Americans of whether Government surveillance should intrude on their private whereabouts’ or specifically in the Government’s point of view the whereabouts’ of a person’s cellular phone.

The Judge that was overlooking this case Honorable Dolores Sloviter questioned Eckenwiler, bringing up that this information could then indicate if a person had been at a protest, or in a meeting, or at a political meeting.  That rogue governments could then misuse that information.

Susan Freiwald a professor at the University of San Francisco told the court on Friday: “When the government acquires historical cell location information, it effectively commandeers our cell phones and turns them into electronic trackers that report, without our knowledge or consent, where we have been and how long we have spent there. We should be able to use our cell phones without them creating a virtual map of our every movement and association."

It was then brought up by ACLU, Susan Freiwald, The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy & Technology that the Fourth Amendment provided Americans with some privacy protections that should shield their whereabouts’ from police agencies that are not armed with search warrants. The groups then pointed out that Judges have the flexibility to require search warrants based on probable cause.

The Obama administration argues that no search warrant is necessary. Saying what is needed is only a 2703(d) order, which requires law enforcement to show that the records are "relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation." Because that standard is easier to meet than that of a search warrant, it is less privacy-protective.

The organizations that opposed the DOJ stated that they are not against the Government obtaining information for legitimate purposes as long as the Fourth Amendment and federal privacy laws are being followed. Susan Freiwald stated this is “a truly novel technology that can invade the privacy of all Americans who carry cell phones in their pockets or purses."

So thoughts, concerns, comments? Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed the article.

-TwisT

[aZiZ1]

i will henceforth destroy my cellphone

[SN!P3R]

I will rip out the GPS antenna out of my iPhone. I dont want Obama knowing where I am.


And what do you know, my iPhone automatically co
capitalizes "Obama". apple, I'm getting a HD2.

[DarkShot]

I will rip out the GPS antenna out of my iPhone. I dont want Obama knowing where I am.


And what do you know, my iPhone automatically co
capitalizes "Obama". apple, I'm getting a HD2.

It ain't GPS dude. They can triangulate your whereabouts by just the radio in the phone (the effective 'phone' part).

all phones have it. Including the HD2

[Kilokk]

I will rip out the GPS antenna out of my iPhone. I dont want Obama knowing where I am.
And what do you know, my iPhone automatically co
capitalizes "Obama". apple, I'm getting a HD2.

Obama doesnt care where you are or what you are doing.  Please stop bashing him in any area besides Club AM.  If you want to say something like this, just say the government.   I do NOT want a flame war breaking out in here.  This is a place for discussion, not bashing the politician of your choice.

Don't get me wrong, I disagree with the whole thing, but lets just discuss why its bad, or the administration as a whole.  Just don't take personal shots based on your prior opinion.

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

It is news and not a gossip section. Well structured opinions on the topic are amazing and are very welcome. If it could be something anybody would find offensive or even annoying but you really need to get it off your chest PM me your rant. I'll talk to you about it. Understand that the article says "the Obama administration" and not "Obama says" Hundreds and hundreds of people are in the "Obama Administration" This includes the DOJ, The House of Reps, and Congress. It isn't as if anything that effects this country is the soul opinion of one man. It is hundreds of men and women that have to approve these things as well. So please keep this in mind. Thank you so much for reading.

-TwisT

[SN!P3R]

Alright sorry

/bashing rant

[spurgurgle]

It is news and not a gossip section.

it may be news but this is a modding forum not a politics forum....surely the news on our news wall should be about modding!

[Modded Matt]

this artical was reported as soon as it was posted. this is due to people glancing over the artical and not taking in what is being said. No where in the artical were there any personal openions about ones views toward a political party. " the oboma administration" was the term used, and it was an accurate and well thought out choice of words. although if you want to get technical, these practices were first started and authorised by the bush administration after 911

this artical is about cell phone privacy. it is in the area under news/mobile phones.

It was well wrote, placed in the correct section, unbiased, and very informative....I would have used a different title, but thats just me.

good work twist.