How Privacy Purists Are Helping Criminals; Investor's Business Daily, June 20, 2017

Betsy McCaughey, Investor's Business Daily; How Privacy Purists Are Helping Criminals

"Privacy purists  across the political spectrum — including the libertarian  Cato Institute — are lining up against law enforcement. They argue that the Fourth Amendment guarantees Americans must be  "secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects" from unreasonable searches. That's a precious right.

But as the store owners robbed by Carpenter will tell you, there's also a need to be secure from criminals.

Not to mention terrorists.

The Carpenter case involves records of calls made in the past. What about a new technology police departments are using to track cellphone locations in real time? It can track fugitives, find abducted children, even foil terrorist attacks.

It's a suitcase-size device called a Stingray that mimics cell towers."

Justice Dept. to Require Warrants for Some Cellphone Tracking; New York Times, 9/3/15

Nicholas Fandos, New York Times; Justice Dept. to Require Warrants for Some Cellphone Tracking:

"The Justice Department will regularly require federal agents to seek warrants before using secretive equipment that can locate and track cellphones, the agency announced Thursday, the first regulations on an increasingly controversial technology.

The new policy, which also limits what information may be collected and how long it can be stored, puts a measure of judicial oversight on a technology that was designed to hunt terrorists overseas but has become a popular tool among federal agents and local police officers for fighting crime.

Civil libertarians have expressed grave privacy concerns about the technology’s proliferation, but the new Justice Department policies do not apply to local police forces.

The device, commonly called a cell-site simulator or StingRay, tricks cellphones into connecting with it by acting like a cell tower, allowing the authorities to determine the location of a tracked phone. In doing so, however, the equipment also connects with all other phones in the area, allowing investigators to collect information on people not suspected of any crime...

“The policy is really designed to try to promote transparency, consistency, and accountability, all while being mindful of the public’s privacy,” Ms. Yates told reporters."