Senators Ask Intelligence Agencies About Location Tracking of Americans

[EFerrari]

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries
July 14, 2011

Are U.S. intelligence agencies tracking American citizens’ location through cellphones and GPS devices?

It might sound outlandish, but Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Mark Udall (D., Colo.) are raising questions about whether the government might be doing just that, according to an early copy of a letter written by the senators and expected to be released later today.

In a letter to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the senators demand information on whether the agencies he leads, including the NSA and the CIA, “have the authority to collect the geolocation information of American citizens for intelligence purposes.”

“If yes, please explain the specific statutory basis for this authority,” the letter states. Wired’s Danger Room blog reported on the planned letter earlier Thursday.

The letter also asks how many Americans have had their communications monitored under authority granted by 2008 legislation amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “Have any apparently law-abiding Americans had their communications collected by the government?” they write.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/07/14/senators-ask-intelligence-agencies-about-location-tracking-of-americans/

[midnight]

1. Think Patriot Act, and then you know the answer-YES.

[leveymg]

2. The gov't argument is that location is "metadata" and they may collect it because they weren't

looking specifically at the individual in particular when they harvested the data, so they don't need a warrant to collect it.

Kinda like: if we (the NSA) weren't specifically wiretapping your line, and intercepted your conversation anyway, it isn't really wiretapping.

Very convenient, since almost all NSA data interception is "driftnet" collection these days.

[formercia]

3. Dragnet

It's illegal in Traffic Stops, it should be illegal with Communications.

[leveymg]

4. 4th Amendment - what 4th Amendment! They amended it -

it doesn't exist anymore for mass collection, whether you call it driftnet or dragnet, no difference:

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NSA Data Driftnets: Domestic Surveillance & Repression on a ...
www.zimbio.com/NSA.../NSA+Data+Driftnets+Domestic+Surveillan... - Cached
NSA Data Driftnets: Domestic Surveillance & Repression on a Massive Scale ... data once known as Carnivore, now called the Digital Collection System, ...
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NSA data collection scrutinized more closely
www.securityfocus.com/brief/698 - CachedSimilar
Mar 10, 2008 – NSA data collection scrutinized more closely ... phone company's network has put the National Security Agency back under the microscope. ...
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Verizon, BellSouth deny aiding NSA data collection
www.securityfocus.com/brief/211 - Cached
May 18, 2006 – Verizon, BellSouth deny aiding NSA data collection ...
Show more results from securityfocus.com
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USATODAY.com - NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm - CachedSimilar
May 10, 2006 – The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call ... "The program ... is not a drift net over (U.S. cities such as) Dearborn .... This kind of data collection from phone companies is not uncommon; ...
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[CartoonDiablo]

5. How is that "outlandish"?

I was under the impression it's common fact.