Advancement of technology can help law enforcers catch criminals easier and track their activities. But confusions prevail over legal authorities since the US Supreme Court still unclear whether the Constitution requires the government to get a probable-cause court warrant to obtain cell-site location data records of suspects under investigation.
According to Wired, this uncertainty of the issue has been applied and led to the conviction of the multiple robbery suspect Quartavious Davis from Florida in 2010. The mobile phone of Davis provided location data and linked him to several crime scenes. The police obtained the data regardless of a warrant from mobile provider MetroPCS. Generally, Davis was convicted because of data are taken from his mobile phone. Justices have been quiet about the probable-cause warrant issue.
To eliminate the doubts, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed legislation on Wednesday asking specific interpretation once and for all. Should the government need probable-cause warrants to obtain geolocation data on suspects? Sen. Ron Wyden, a democrat from Oregon said of the legislation he is co-sponsoring those outdated laws shouldn't be an excuse for open season on tracking Americans, and owning a smartphone or fitness tracker shouldn't give the government a blank check to track your movements, as reported by Arstechnica.
In 2012 US Supreme Court ruled that the authorities need a warrant to place GPS tracker on vehicles. During that time stingrays become an important tool for spying. Data on a person's locations via cell tower pings can be easily traced without a probable-cause warrant. When the legality of the procedure of using such tools being presented as evidence in the court is questioned, government argues that cell-site records are not constitutionally protected and that the information is a business record that any telephone companies may surrender it to the government if reasonable grounds exist to believe the data is relevant to an investigation.
The proposed legislation that demands probable-cause warrants called "Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act" would not only be applied to mobile phones but also to other GPS-enabled gadgets such as onboard navigation system and fitness devices. In connection to this, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a republican from Utah said that Congress has an obligation to act quickly to protect Americans from violations of their privacy made possible by emerging technologies. He added that this bill will build a framework governing the use of geolocation and cell-site simulator technologies.
The proposed federal law was supported by institutions such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Center for Democracy and Technology, Access Now, and the American Civil Liberties. If it becomes a law then secretly tracking an adult's activities using an electronic device would be a crime. Also, companies would not furnish geolocational information to third parties without the consent of the customer.
