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CNET: Dragnet cell tracking

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

On CNET is this really interesting article: ACLU: FBI used 'dragnet'-style warrantless cell tracking by Declan McCullagh with links to pleadings. To nab a pair of men accused of robbing banks in Connecticut, court documents show the FBI turned to a novel investigative technique last year: warrantless monitoring of the locations of about 180 different cell phones, court documents show. The FBI obtained a secret order--it has not been made public--commanding nine different telephone companies to provide federal police "with all cell site tracking data and cell site locator information for all incoming and outgoing calls to and from the target numbers." But because the U.S. Justice Department did not obtain a warrant by proving to a judge that there was probable cause to suspect criminal activity, there's now a risk that the evidence from the location surveillance may be tossed out of court as illegally obtained...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).