Big Brother in your celNormally I'd dismiss this sort of thing as conspiracy nuttery, but this is in the Chicago Tribune as opposed to the ravings of some nut on a blog. I always knew that, technically, it's possible to be tracked by your cell phone, but I always assumed that it was something that didn't happen often- and when it did, it required a warrant. But, apparently, it's very common and does not require a warrant.Suppose I approached you with a request. I want you to carry a small gadget that will automatically transmit your location to the police, allowing them to track your every movement 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Chances are you would politely decline.
Too late. You already accepted.
I think anyone who tracked my movements would quickly get bored, but nonetheless, I am uncomfortable with how easy it is to do so. Anyone else think this is a problem?They don't have to get a search warrant — which would limit them to situations where they can show some reason to think you're breaking the law. All they have to do is tell a judge that the information is relevant to a criminal investigation and send a request to your service provider.
This does not appear to be an uncommon event. Al Gidari, an attorney for several service providers, told Newsweek they now get "thousands of these requests per month."
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