This morning, you left the house tagged with a tracking device that the government can use to find out where you have been and where you are going.

I'm talking, of course, about your cell phone. Mobile phones communicate continuously with cellular towers in order to receive calls, sending out a signal registering its existence and identity with the provider's nearest towers. The provider stores this cell-site data, which can be triangulated to determine the customer's physical location.

While most courts considering the issue have held that police need "probable cause" to track your movements, a new decision (.pdf) last week out of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts holds that law enforcement need show only "relevance to an ongoing investigation" to get a historical record of your past movement (something like the Jeffy trail in The Family Circus cartoon).

Is that Big Brother in You Pocke, or Are you Just Happy to See Me?

I actually have one of those throw away phones from walmart, so my name is not attached anywhere to my phone...

This is not because I'm scared of the government watching me though, it's because I don't wanna sign a contract.

On a related note, I had lunch with a friend the other day who brought up the topic of RFIDs in the new credit cards and passports, and the foil-lined wallets to keep them in...

Maybe 2 foil-lined wallets for the passports are in order. A security consultant has demonstrated a proximity-detonated IED (he used a smoke grenade) triggered as the passport passed within 5 feet of the device.

do you know that with 2 pieces of equipment your neighbor could belisteing to your calls. Basic radio wave modulation, not hard..

So your saying you can do this?

yep

havent always been in banking or IT or whatever it is I get a paycheck for

The government though has limited resources and is generally incompetent, so unless you have personally pi$$ed someone off, you're unlikely to be tracked.

I'm just not going to fall into the paranoid trap.(I'll leave that up to my dear mom) Yes, I use a cellphone. I don't care if someone is listening to me. I'd think they have better things to do than waste time.

I agree with Patrice. I have nothing to hide, so anyone who was listening to me would fall asleep from boredom (unless of course I was talking to my hubby about our plans for the evening)

I'm not that worried about it either. There is nothing out there for me to hide. If listening to the right people's conversations keeps me safe, then that's fine by me. If that was a job (listening to people's conversation to screen for terrorism or something), wouldn't that be kinda fun!

I used to pick up my neighbor's calls on my baby monitor!!

Yep, it doesn't take too sophisticated of equipment to do it, if one was so inclined, but as TICG said the governments resources are limited and there is no way they could listen to all phone calls even if they wanted to.(Which they don't)

to add to the growing paranoia, let's not forget the GPS in many new cars...and wireless internet access...and lo-jack systems...the list of our government tracking us for no good except to destroy our rights just grows and grows...aaaaggghhhh

Is this new? I thought they have been tracking people's movements for a while with cell phones....

I have to say, if they offered it, I would get my kids microchipped. If all parents did that, and it was public that they were chipped, I think we would see kidnapping decline rapidly and maybe even the decline of pedophiles.

I have two cell phone listening devices. They are called ears. Everywhere I go, all I hear is yak, yak, yak on the cell phones about a lot of things I really don't care to hear about. What ever happened to common sense and good manners? You can't even go to a public restroom without hearing somebody yakking on the phone. I would like to do my business in peace, but where can I go?

My aunt had an electic organ at her house, and it would pick up police radio transmissions through the speakers. I wonder if she could pick up cell phones as well?

Nicely done Retread, nicely done.

I know it's like I'm talking to the fence post, but one more time. The issue is not whether or not you have something to hide. It's what hoops should law enforcement jump through to *legally* monitor our cell phones.

Read this again, please, before you post any knee-jerk reactions...

While most courts considering the issue have held that police need "probable cause" to track your movements, a new decision last week out of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts holds that law enforcement need show only "relevance to an ongoing investigation" to get a historical record of your past movement (something like the Jeffy trail in The Family Circus cartoon).

The issue is *not* do we want law enforcement to have the ability to monitor cell phone conversations, the issue is do we want them to have "probable cause" or "relevance to an ongoing investigation" to do it. "Probable cause" is the higher standard. "Relevance to an ongoing investigation" sounds like a "fishing trip" to me.

Hey, we want bad guys caught, then I say law enforcement should have as few hoops to go thru as possible to do their jobs.

kms, they put chips in pets, why not kids?

I agree, you can have them removed when they turn 18, no big deal. I am all for it. I think it would save a great many children, and since they are our future, I want them to have the best start they can get.

Not like the little girl in nevada they are looking for, that some guy made a kiddie porn video with. SICK

I'm just saying...