SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Secret Service bought location data pulled from common apps:
The Secret Service paid a private company for access to location data generated by common smartphone apps, Motherboard reports. Internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that the agency spent $35,844 for a one-year subscription to Babel Street's product Locate X, which tracks the location of devices via data harvested from popular apps.
As Motherboard notes, the glaring issue with this contract is that it allows the law enforcement agency to buy information that it would normally need a warrant or a court order to obtain.
[...] In March, Protocol reported that US Customs and Border Protection purchased Locate X, and a former Babel Street employee told Protocol that the Secret Service and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were using the location-tracking tech. But Motherboard has the first confirmation that the Secret Service did in fact purchase Locate X.
[...] Senator Ron Wyden is reportedly planning legislation to block law enforcement from purchasing products like Locate X.
"It is clear that multiple federal agencies have turned to purchasing Americans' data to buy their way around Americans' Fourth Amendment Rights. I'm drafting legislation to close this loophole, and ensure the Fourth Amendment isn't for sale," Wyden said in a statement provided to Motherboard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @03:10PM (1 child)
"Communications," as in the voice content of a telephone call, are indeed covered by the fourth amendment, even if it is on a cell phone. Just because it is on a cell phone does not entitle the government to listen in - a warrant is required. The data ABOUT a phone call like the number dialed and the length of a call are NOT covered by the Fourth Amendment but nevertheless require a court order to obtain (even a blanket once, thanks Patriot Act!) Data a company collects as part of an App where the company has explicitly said they can convey such information to others.... no. You've signed away your right of privacy with the developer and the government can just be another customer to obtain that data.
The way to fix it would be to enact a law saying such information may not be accessed by the government without some condition like a court order with a warrant. The same way pen registers were created. And if one wants to change the law around pen registers, again legislation would be the way to fix it. No constitutional amendments necessary.
If true and total end-to-end encryptions were possible to the point of obfuscating even the location (i.e. no pen register data) the government would act to prevent such a system under the ethic that it would facilitate crime. They might even be right about that, given the current mores of the country. One might be able to engineer a different system where the right to privacy is paramount, but you would also have to account for other moral imperatives like how crime can be investigated and not just scream about "muh rights!" If rights and responsibilities are not balanced then trouble will ensue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @05:53PM
Crime is never a reason to give up freedom. Fix the root causes of the crime, or find the individuals responsible and punish them. No reason to take my privacy because $criminal doing $crime. Especially when the vast majority of "crimes" are completely victimless acts possessing or selling contraband.