Ars Technica - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is taking the position that court warrants are not required when deploying cell-site simulators in public places. Nicknamed "stingrays," the devices are decoy cell towers that capture locations and identities of mobile phone users and can intercept calls and texts.
The FBI made its position known during private briefings with staff members of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
The bureau's position on Americans' privacy isn't surprising. The Obama Administration has repeatedly maintained that the public has no privacy in public places. It began making that argument as early as 2010, when it told a federal appeals court that the authorities should be allowed to affix GPS devices on vehicles and track a suspect's every move without court authorization.
1 comment:
Where's the Occam's razor? Obviously, one isn't "private" in a public space, but the brain zone, and the "one on one" conversation, whether electronic or physiologically contiguous, does have the inviolability of "privacy". Hence, having one's location tracked is part of the public "risk" for an individual. Having one's words, whether jotting a memo to oneself, or txtng messages, is an extension of the privacy "zone". Good lawyers, not extrinsically motivated ones, should be able to parse the distinctions here!
Post a Comment