Police Abuse of Cell Phone Tracking

*Photo of ACLU's map of state affiliates that submitted FOI requests for data and information

The below was placed as a comment to [this opednews.com article]. Go to article source to click on map to learn about your state's abuse of cell phone tracking.

I was stalked for well over 2 years by a Connecticut State Police Informant who I broke up with when I found out what she was about. Went into Massachusetts, rented cars, and didn't talk about where I was going over the phone or in email. Nevertheless, she seemed to show up wherever I had a date or was out socializing. Connecticut State Police Officers would recite word for word my emails and phone conversations. It is scary when a police force can enforce a "no dating" policy on a citizen who refuses intimate contact with a member of the goon squad.

Divorced fathers meeting at a Connecticut law library to research laws to deal with judicial corruption and misconduct were also cyber stalked and probably tracked with cell phones. If you make a police misconduct complaint in Connecticut, it is to the next higher officer. A good way to get arrested and railroaded to prison is to complain about a judge and/or police officer. The system is out to protect itself from us, not to protect and serve. Those who want value for our tax dollar and ask for it are in danger. We need to keep an eye on them, much more than they need to keep an eye on us.

-stevengerickson AT yahoo Dot Com

http://thegetjusticecoalition.blogspot.com/2011/02/letter-text-to-us-vermont-senators.html

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ACLU's New Project to Uncover Details on Law Enforcement Use of Location Tracking

By Kevin Gosztola (about the author)

The ACLU has launched a massive effort with more than thirty of its state affiliates to uncover just how law enforcement agencies, large and small, are using cell phone location data to track Americans. The national organization and its affiliates submitted 379 requests through state Freedom of Information (FOI) laws and hope to unearth documentary evidence to show just how law enforcement is using new technology to invade Americans' privacy.

"We want to get a better handle on the scope of location tracking in this country, how often it happens, where it's happening, whether or not the government gets a warrant based on probable cause," says Catherine Crump, a staff attoreney for the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. She believes this effort will demonstrate law enforcement is using technology tracking more and more often for cases.

Through the FOI requests, the ACLU seeks to uncover information on: "whether law enforcement agents demonstrate probable cause and obtain a warrant to access cell phone location data; statistics on how frequently law enforcement agencies obtain cell phone location data and how much money law enforcement agencies spend tracking cell phones and other policies and procedures used for acquiring location data."

The ACLU takes a clear stance on location tracking, according to Crump. They "think location tracking is deeply invasive of people's privacy rights and the government should only be allowed to do it when they have a warrant based on probable cause." But, it is clear "that's not what's happening. We think that violates the Constitution."

"The American public should know the extent to which people are getting tracked without getting a warrant," Crump declares.

She notes how much location tracking has been in the news recently. Not a week goes buy, she says, that we don't read about a new development related to location tracking. For example, the Supreme Court is "poised to address the issue of whether or not the Fourth Amendment requires the government to attach GPS devices." Read more of this article at FDL's The Dissenter .