Warrantless cellphone location tracking is illegal, US circuit court rules

A US Appellate Court has ruled that police must obtain a warrant before collecting cellphone location data, finding that acquiring records of what cell towers a phone connected to and when it was connected to them constitutes a Fourth Amendment search. This ruling, from the 11th Circuit, is in opposition to a ruling made nearly a year ago by a separate appellate court. While this ruling won't overturn that one because of their separate jurisdictions, it adds critical precedent to a privacy question that's still far from decided across the country. 

 In its reasoning, the court notes that while the Fourth Amendment has traditionally been applied to property rights, it's gradually expanded to protect much more, including communications. "In the 20th century, a second view gradually developed," the court writes, "that is, that the Fourth Amendment guarantee protects the privacy rights of the people without respect to whether the alleged 'search' constituted a trespass against property rights."

... The American Civil Liberties Union was involved in arguing that the Fourth Amendment protected cell site location data and says that the court agreed in full with its arguments. "The court’s opinion is a resounding defense of the Fourth Amendment’s continuing vitality in the digital age," ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler says in a statement. "The court soundly repudiates the government’s argument that by merely using a cell phone, people somehow surrender their privacy rights."

by (greek origin?)  Jacob Kastrenakes
read full article at The Verge http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/11/5801238/warrantless-cellphone-location-tracking-illegal-us-court-rules