This article is about a topic that that we touched on briefly in lecture, but is a prominent and concerning issue. Police all over the U.S. are tracking our cell phones without warrants and without probable cause. The Patriot Act, the events of 9/11, and the expansion of the Homeland Security allowed for telephone surveillance, and surveillance of all other types of
communication. But nowhere in the act did it say that act allow for law enforcement to track us and follow out movements through our cell phones' signals. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), report that there is little to no supervision or judicial oversight of the cops surveillance of us. Law enforcement has persuaded/coerced phone companies to cooperate by handing over personal information and giving law enforcement access to the location of each person--a function which cannot be turned of so long as a phone is receiving wireless service. Furthermore, they have capabilities in tracing phones that are turned off. Companies such as Verizon and AT&T have even devised manuals that explain to police officers how to access this information. So why is this such a big deal? Because the Fourth Amendment of the constitution prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, and this Amendment is violated each and every time the police track a person using their phone.
The ironic thing is that the Supreme Court has previously ruled it unconstitutional to track a drug dealer without issuing a warrant. But what makes cell phone tracking any different? If anything, this is a grave violation of civil rights and should be addressed.
In this day and age, I feel that our civil rights are being stripped from us day by day. Government and law enforcement seem to be gaining more and more power leading to extensive abuse of power and corruption. This is one of the main reasons why I think we are a nation that is an emerging police state. Perhaps we have been a police state in the making for the last
several decades, but it seems that this police state is emerging, slowly but surely---taking our rights from us and tightening its grip on every aspect of our lives. From the Patriot Act, to the recent Supreme Court ruling that wants to enable STRIP SEARCHES on anyone, (even if they have not committed crimes), to the aggressive police stops some of us experience, to the increasingly blatant police brutality, and the passing of acts such as the National Defense Authorization Act which ultimately gives unlimited powers to the military; as well as the SOPA and PIPA acts which greatly undermine our civil liberties.
There does not seem to be any specific strategies or methodologies for tracking on the part of the police. However, the new light rail system, in addition to the new wave of residents coming into El Dorado, the police may express a deeper interest in the activities and whereabouts of these citizens--especially since the state shares a border with Mexico. Since El Dorado is fairly close to Oakville, and Oakville is predominantly African American, I believe this region will be particularly scrutinized. With the substantial, new investment in law enforcement, there will be greater resources at disposal. With the recent crackdowns on immigration, the El
Dorado Police Department will embrace this technology because they think it will help them to catch more illegal aliens, catch more criminals, and save more lives.
While I strongly agree that in our society today there is a growing infringement of our rights through many different law enforcement techniques such as strip searches, SOPA and PIPA - I do not believe the use of cell phone signal tracking will become such an issue that innocent individuals are being harmed. As a son of a parent who works in the intelligence field of federal law enforcement, I have been told that this technology is only used when absolutely necessary, for anti terrorism related issues, or when a specific person/organization is a strong suspect in a particular case. Although Eldorado is witnessing a huge expansion of their police force and resources, I do not believe much will be dumped into cell phone tracking. Today, the cell phone tracking computer system is predominately used to monitor for specific words that can possibly be related to terrorist activity and not to monitor small time criminal activity, unless a full fledged investigation is taking place.
ReplyDelete-KAP
I agree with you that the police are infringing on our rights. I think the cell phone tracking article really gives a good example of how even the smallest part of lives - the part that we would want to keep personal and private - have now been taken out into the open without our consent. There are a lot of implications that can be taken from this fact. The first is that our society is becoming more individualized and the issue of having privacy is starting to take a greater role in politics. I think this is a product of the direction of culture is moving toward - with more devices that allow us to privatize our lives more, the sense of an "invasion of privacy" becomes a greater concern. The second insight is that the police have been monitoring our actions so closely based on an urgency to prevent crime. This urgency seems to be stronger than before because of increasing incidents of crimes coupled with more advance technology. These two implications seem to be in direct conflict with one another. I think it shows that because the police have the power to abuse these powers, they need to be more sensitive to society's needs and provide more justifiable reasons for intrusion. This is very applicable to Eldorado because they've just recently changed their policing model. As they start to add more police officers into their department, they should inform them that privacy is very important to the not just the victims but society as a whole. If they want to compromise on this, then they need to bring forth a good enough reason to do so. Otherwise, we will end up with public outrage and disapproval. - ML
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the Anonymous post I feel that Marwa makes a good point that it is the small infringements on our rights that seem non-threatening but could possibly grow into larger issues that we need to be aware of. There is a growing sense of normalcy when our rights are infringed upon, this opens up the possibility of sacrificing more fundamental rights. While there is a huge expansion occurring in the police department it is important for people (especially voting citizens) to be aware of issues, such as cell phone tracking, to make critical choices in the community that they are involved in.
ReplyDeleteC.L.
Cell Phone monitoring is a very touchy topic in regards to the law. From my perspective, I believe that cell phone monitoring can be both legal and illegal depending on what the consumers agree too. If the lengthy cell phone contract which I as well as many other users barely read over before signing the dotted line says the user can be monitored by the police, then it can be legal. However, I also believe that monitoring cell phones and tracking people's moves can be a dangerous thing to do because it can lead to further monitoring. On smart phones or cell phones with data plan, users can access mobile banking, internet use, gps, if police can access phones to track and monitor individual movements, the police would be able to track what you now spend money on, where you often go, and what you read about on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThis can be both beneficial and harmful to citizens of El Dorado as well as our society because it breaches our privacy. On the one hand, if law makers and the courts believe that policing monitoring cell phones serves a "compelling interest" and it is a matter of national security, it will be considered legal, however, I'm afraid it might lead to selective monitoring and the profiling of certain individuals.
AHN
It really is an issue of the potential of cell phone tracking. It really isn't being used on innocent people and for those who are tracked won't face any problems as long as they're not breaking the law. The problem arises with the idea of the larger picture issues like the disregard of the 4th Amendment by the courts. The implications of the police being able to track anyone, regardless of what they actually use it for, is a clear infringement on our rights and our privacy. The ability to track with no warrant isn't an issue that the government should be able to split hairs on and justify themselves on. It's a basic right that the government is infringing on, but it makes sense that a oversensitive government and public after 9/11 would pass an act like the Patriot Act.
ReplyDeleteDF
I find this tracking power very troubling and it seems to be an abuse of the state's police power. Like the current aggressive policing tactics it's not very troubling until it is used on innocent civilians which leads to a breakdown in legitimacy of the police and government among certain groups of people. Tracking by cell phone has the same potential. Although currently it's supposedly used for "anti-terrorism" tactics there are multiple violations that could occur here. First terrorism is a very vague term and a broad range of activities could come under fire here and many innocent civilians could be targeted which could lead to an even greater legitimacy crisis. "Suspect individual" is also extremely vague. Just as police can stop people due to reasonable suspicion, the police can make almost any activity seem suspect and deem it worthy to track their phones. There is just too much free reign and not enough oversight.
ReplyDeleteJust as in Oakville where there is a high population of African-Americans that are probably racially profiled and subject to the police's aggressive actions, government and the media has instilled the fear of the Middle-Eastern man as being a terrorist. This could lead to a different type of discrimination in which their phones are disproportionately being tracked.
-H.Hui
I agree that it would be interesting to see how police and law enforcement uses the evidence from monitoring people on cell phones, and whether or not they make arrests on those people. Unfortunately I see this extra surveillance and an opportunity for police to target individuals they think are criminal such as Latinos, African Americans, and other minorities on crimes. While some people may feel that it is alright to target people that they think are criminal because they wear "thuggish clothing" it actually affects all of society and may affect that person sooner or later. Looking at racial profiling at airport checkpoints after 9/11, the Muslim community was targeted my TSAs. Even worse not only Muslim people were targeted, but also Sikhs and other individuals whose cultural garments are not "Western" thus associating their cultural identities with attacks that had nothing to do with their country or state. It is becoming clearer that by stripping away rights such as monitoring someone's cell phone without consent or racial profiling we enter into a police state society where ANY group can become a target. This is why racial profiling gone unchecked affects everyone. It is easy for the police and law enforcement to use their basal instincts to make judgements on individuals because their culture or their ethnicity is associated with violent behavior, but allowing to profile one group opens up the opportunity to associate other groups of people such as Muslim Americans as a threat to security when in actuality they are not.
ReplyDelete