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The United State Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that a "probable cause" warrant is required before law enforcement can obtain cellular location records for an individual. Two thieves in Baltimore were identified when their locations were correlated with robberies near Baltimore. Their conviction will be allowed to stand, as law enforcement had a good-faith belief that the technique was permissible at the time, but future investigations will be subject to the ruling. The US 4th Circuit is a Federal court that handles appeals from the states of Maryland, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The ruling does not apply in other districts, which so far have ruled against the requirement, but could allow cases in other states to reach the Supreme Court.
Ars Technica coverage:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/08/warrant-required-for-mobile-phone-location-tracking-us-appeals-court-rules/
Link to the ruling, in PDF form:
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/124659.P.pdf
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @01:11PM
the reason why privacy is lost is because people are too stupid to maintain it
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @01:39PM
the reason why privacy is lost is because people are too stupid to maintain it
And, as such things almost always are, it is far more complicated than that.
Just for starters, how does a person maintain their privacy? One has two avenues: Either do not use the things that compromise your privacy (cell phones, the Internet, cars whose plates can be tracked, just to start...) Or vote for people who will change things for the better (which assumes there's someone out there who wants to change things who would be elected - and you won't find any such person as an R or a D.)
So tell, oh great and intelligent AC: When did you give up all the things that compromise your privacy? When have you run for office in order to change the system?
I thought so.
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday August 06 2015, @04:30PM
And, as such things almost always are, it is far more complicated than that.
They're stupid and apathetic. If they were intelligent, they would be demanding from political candidates that the NSA and such be stopped. Instead, all the focus is on the mystical "economy" and other lesser issues which may be important but aren't as important as stopping the US from becoming more like a police state. If a candidate supports mass surveillance or other unconstitutional policies, then they should not be voted for; period. Only some people are doing this, and with small numbers we can only do so much.
and you won't find any such person as an R or a D.
They don't need to be Rupublicans or Democrats.
I suggest a combination of the two: Vote for good candidates and avoid technologies that make it easy to spy on you in significant ways when it is possible for you to do so. Definitely avoid proprietary software.