Cali approves location privacy act. Get a warrant.

[powderman]

A new bill designed to require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before collecting any GPS or location data from a cellphone or smartphone has been passed by California state legislators.

The Location Privacy Bill 2012, which was co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), received strong cross-party support, and was passed by an overwhelming majority of 63--11.

The bill has yet to be signed by the California Governor Jerry Brown, which as the EFF notes, could be rejected. Brown vetoed a similar bill in 2011 which would require police to obtain a search warrant before searching the contents of an arrested suspect's mobile device.

He said, in response to the vetoed SB 914: "The courts are better suited to resolve the complex and case-specific issues relating to constitutional search-and-seizures protections."

As Ars Technica points out, the ACLU found earlier this year that many law enforcement agencies around the U.S. do not "consistently obtain a warrant" for collecting location data from cell networks.

The current law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 1986 does not provide the clear protection of personal and sensitive information, such as location data, which gives law enforcement the ability to obtain such data with little or no oversight by the courts.

The EFF said in a statement that it "urge Governor Brown to have California take the lead on this issue and sign SB 1434," saying that it "strikes a sensible balance between keeping the public safe and preserving our privacy."


http://www.zdnet.com/california-appr...nt-7000003050/ 

[finisher]

There is absolutely nothing private about the air waves and no one should fool themselves into believing that there is.


Does any one truly believe that someone in power cannot access everything any one of us writes and views here on the net at any time.


Folks got along fine in the days before SAT COM and GPS and I dare say maybe got along better.


Don't want people tracking you (particularly if you're up to no good) then don't carry a cell phone...simply unplug yourself. It's a PERSONAL CHOICE.


Build your own track proof network if you don't like it.

[Conan The Librarian]

That is interesting. Not so much because of GPS specifically, but because of eavesdropping in general.
 
Since 9-11 there has been an explosion of laws that make it easier for police to intercept your communications. These were justified in terms of preventing terrorism. However, fully 85% of cases where warrantless wiretaps and the like are applied have to do with drug investigations. In other words, they are being used for a purpose for which they were never intended. 
 
This is truly a "slippery slope" and "camel's nose under the tent" scenario that has come to pass.
 
Your cell phone is basically a radio and has a lot of the security weaknesses of any transmitter. My understanding is that about 1 of 5 people no longer have landlines because they only use cell phones. The landline companies might want to consider marketing one of their advantages: more resistant to snooping and interception.

[finisher]

That is interesting. Not so much because of GPS specifically, but because of eavesdropping in general.
 
Since 9-11 there has been an explosion of laws that make it easier for police to intercept your communications. These were justified in terms of preventing terrorism. However, fully 85% of cases where warrantless wiretaps and the like are applied have to do with drug investigations. In other words, they are being used for a purpose for which they were never intended. 
 
This is truly a "slippery slope" and "camel's nose under the tent" scenario that has come to pass.
 
Your cell phone is basically a radio and has a lot of the security weaknesses of any transmitter. My understanding is that about 1 of 5 people no longer have landlines because they only use cell phones. The landline companies might want to consider marketing one of their advantages: more resistant to snooping and interception.

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Where I live, even a presumably hardwired land line isn't even truly hard wired. Many still work off of the cable connection that uplinks your internet service.