Cellphone Info

The federal courts ruled that officials need only a court order and not a more direct search warrant in order to get cellphone and communication services records to track a person. Apparently, such data is a business record that belongs to the cellphone provider. It also said its collection by authorities does not have to meet a probable cause standard as outlined under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful search and seizure and requires a search warrant. The appeals court said under the Stored Communications Act, authorities have the option of obtaining a court order — which has a lower legal standard than a search warrant. With a court order, authorities only have to demonstrate there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the information would be relevant to an investigation. If we go back to the Snowden fiasco and really think about it, did we not already assume that people are very track-able with their cellphones and other gadgets? Do you know of anyone that is truly off the grid?