Judge Calls Location-Tracking Orwellian, While Congress Moves To Legalize It

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Aug 25, 2011, 8:00:34 PM8/25/11

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Judge Calls Location-Tracking Orwellian, While Congress Moves To Legalize It
A federal judge’s decision requiring the government to get a court warrant before obtaining mobile-phone location data is one of a string of conflicting opinions on the topic. It comes as lawmakers and the Supreme Court weigh in on the hot-button issue of locational privacy. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled on Tuesday that the government can only acquire cellphone location data on a surveillance target with a full-blown “probable cause” warrant from a judge. The government had argued that it’s entitled to the data whenever it’s “relevant” to a criminal investigation — a lower standard. The feds were seeking 113 days worth of cell-site data, or “recorded information identifying the base-station towers and sectors that received transmissions” from the target’s cellphone.