More Demands on Cell Carriers in Surveillance

More Demands on Cell Carriers in Surveillance

www.nytimes.com

In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations.

AT&T alone now responds to an average of more than 700 requests a day, with about 230 of them regarded as emergencies that do not require the normal court orders and subpoena. That is roughly triple the number it fielded in 2007, the company said. Law enforcement requests of all kinds have been rising amon

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is why CISPA was so important to DHS. There is no real privacy left. No person will be allowed to communicate in private without their words, locations and actions being kept secret from the government.

One issue buried deep in the article points out that the number of request for wire taps have decreased. If these were such important police tools why would we see a surge in requests and a reduction in wire tap requests?

This is just one tool that the authorities are using to expand police state powers and control.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I bet that more than half of those request are nothing but abuse of power and not the imminent dangers of terrorist attacks.

Patriot act needs to die, the corporate dictatorship is ruining rampant in this nation.

reply to post by fnpmitchreturns


I have been a cop for over 6 years and I can say I have never seen this abused....often when we have calls where we may have someone who sent a text to a friend saying they will kill themselves. We have no way of finding where this person is so we call verizon/etc to try to ping the cell phone to its last known location. The first thing verizon does is asks if it is an emergency situation. The officer submits all his information including their name. If it is not an emergency verizon wont send us the last location, but if it is they will, and half the time its wrong anyway. I can't imagine any officer abusing this because it is so well documented and would open a civil suit if it was abused for the officer and potentially verizon. We get these kind of calls all the time from concerned parents, friends etc. I would say this comes up a few times a month where I am at and it almost always from a suicide threat or someone has been missing.

Also in regards to texts and stuff like that...if you send texts to someone and that someone shows us...we don't need a warrant...any other grabbing of information through the air would require a warrant....if they dont have one...they would lose the case.

Is there any way to find out if your cell phone records have been turned over to the government? I know that you can get a copy of any file that is being kept on you, but for some reason I don't think it would include those records.

Originally posted by TTAA2012
Is there any way to find out if your cell phone records have been turned over to the government? I know that you can get a copy of any file that is being kept on you, but for some reason I don't think it would include those records.

No.


It seems too short an answer to give... but in the end - aside from your billing statement - the carrier cannot be compelled to give YOU (the subscriber) anything unless a court orders it.... go figure.

Originally posted by cosmicexplorer
reply to post by fnpmitchreturns

 

I have been a cop for over 6 years and I can say I have never seen this abused....often when we have calls where we may have someone who sent a text to a friend saying they will kill themselves. We have no way of finding where this person is so we call verizon/etc to try to ping the cell phone to its last known location. The first thing verizon does is asks if it is an emergency situation. The officer submits all his information including their name. If it is not an emergency verizon wont send us the last location, but if it is they will, and half the time its wrong anyway. I can't imagine any officer abusing this because it is so well documented and would open a civil suit if it was abused for the officer and potentially verizon. We get these kind of calls all the time from concerned parents, friends etc. I would say this comes up a few times a month where I am at and it almost always from a suicide threat or someone has been missing.

Also in regards to texts and stuff like that...if you send texts to someone and that someone shows us...we don't need a warrant...any other grabbing of information through the air would require a warrant....if they dont have one...they would lose the case.

edit on 9-7-2012 by cosmicexplorer because: I type faster than I think

I believe you. But "1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies" seems like it merits some rather extensive scrutiny ... or oversight.... which the citizens are not empowered to receive without expending lots of resources to challenge the "exact" nature of "homeland security."

Let's face it, police may be requesting this, but I am more concerned about the "national/federal" use because they are operating under a vastly different mandate... totally separate from, and usually having no impact on the safety of a community.

It's the same complaint many have heard ... "fishing"

yes they just tell them "he is going to kill some one"
truth is he May have a gun or knife and May kill some one.
they just bully them in to it.

I have more than one phone and phone cards.
nothing illegal I just was given old phones.
I am a gadget mad scientist.
you should see the stuff I have.
building a Tesla coil now

reply to post by Maxmars


I think there are estimated 750k cops so 1.3 million seems about right since I bet Ive had to use it 2 times in the last year....however I do agree with your federal/government comment...I think local police agencies really don't have as much power as people think but there are groups within groups in the government...and although I truly believe their intentions are for good..it really wouldn't be hard for one bad apple to use this the wrong way or for a group with some immoral agenda to take advantage of it all. Either way it is a frustrating time to be a cop...everyone hates us lol...Im ready to work with plants or something with less responsibility.