The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has stated that it will soon become more transparent about its secret cell phone tracking program. According to The Wall Street Journal, "the Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun getting search warrants from judges to use the devices, which hunt criminal suspects by locating their cellphones, the officials said. For years, FBI agents didn’t get warrants to use the tracking devices."
This change in behavior is welcome news. Law enforcement should be required to obtain a warrant before deploying these technologies. Police across the country have utilized devices sometimes called stingrays without a warrant thousands of times to collect information about cell phone users for years. The usage of these technologies on American soil appears to have started around 2007 and according to published reports is widespread across the country.
In a democratic and free society, it is imperative for law enforcement to be transparent about their practices. Even though there may be security concerns regarding being too transparent about some of the details of these programs, the usage of these technologies without a warrant is a clear violation of our Fourth Amendment rights.
While I applaud the DOJ's decision to change its practice and now obtain a warrant before deploying these tools what triggered the change in policy? In 2014, the Supreme Court in Riley v. California ruled 9-0 that the police generally need a warrant to search electronic devices of those who are arrested. The DOJ's policy should have been updated right after this ruling occurred and not almost a year later.
The bottom line is that privacy still matters in the Digital Age and that transparency and accountability are more important than ever due to the increased sophistication of digital surveillance tools.
Copyright 2015 by The Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC All rights reserved.
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