Court Ruled in Favor of Warrantless Cell Location Tracking

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Court Ruled in Favor of Warrantless Cell Location Tracking

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Probably one of the much awaited legal proceedings that discusses mobile phone privacy in the US is whether or not warrantless search and warrantless tracking is allowed by the law.

And recently, one of the two questions was answered.

In a federal court ruling recently, it said that the FBI and the police do not need a warrant to track a person's location when he made certain calls from his cell phone, provided that the tracking will benefit an ongoing investigation against that person.

The ruling said that cellphone tracking "does not require the traditional probable-cause determination" and the person is not covered by his Fourth Amendment right which prohibits government authorities in conducting "unreasonable" searches.

But the act of tracking is no way fashioned after sci-fi films where uber hi-tech tracking devices are being employed to track people of their whereabouts by way of their phones. Police and the FBI will have to ask the phone company for the records of the person's location based on his cell phone activity logs.

However, the court also cleared that in at least some cases, investigators may be required to ask for warrants, but reiterated that it's "an option to be used sparingly".

But despite the ruling, liberty groups are still confused as to whether cellphone information is covered by the Fourth Amendment, as the law itself did not specify it.

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Tags: • tracking • cell phone • mobile phone • phone company • phone privacy • location tracking • warrantless tracking •

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