ACLU: FOIA DOCS-Show Feds Can Lojack Mobile Phones WITHOUT Telco Help

[kpete]

FOIA docs show feds can lojack mobiles without telco help

By Julian Sanchez | Published: November 16, 2008 - 10:45PM CT

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This summer, however, the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Justice Department, seeking documents related to the FBI's cell-phone tracking practices. Since August, they've received a stream of documents—the most recent batch on November 6—that were posted on the Internet last week. In a post on the progressive blog Daily Kos, ACLU spokesperson Rachel Myers drew attention to language in several of those documents implying that triggerfish have broader application than previously believed.

As one of the documents intended to provide guidance for DOJ employees explains, triggerfish can be deployed "without the user knowing about it, and without involving the cell phone provider." That may be significant because the legal rulings requiring law enforcement to meet a high "probable cause" standard before acquiring cell location records have, thus far, pertained to requests for information from providers, pursuant to statutes such as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and the Stored Communications Act.

The Justice Department's electronic surveillance manual explicitly suggests that triggerfish may be used to avoid restrictions in statutes like CALEA that bar the use of pen register or trap-and-trace devices—which allow tracking of incoming and outgoing calls from a phone subject to much less stringent evidentiary standards—to gather location data. "By its very terms," according to the manual, "this prohibition applies only to information collected by a provider and not to information collected directly by law enforcement authorities. Thus, CALEA does not bar the use of pen/trap orders to authorize the use of cell phone tracking devices used to locate targeted cell phones."

Perhaps surprisingly, it's only with the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001 that the government has needed any kind of court order to use triggerfish. While previously, the statutory language governing pen register or trap-and-trace orders did not appear to cover location tracking technology. Under the updated definition, these explicitly include any "device or process which records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing, and signaling information."

much more (plus links) at:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081116-foia-docs-show-feds-can-lojack-mobiles-without-telco-help.html

[appal_jack]

1. we pay for our own bugs

I have no doubt that the Feds can not only locate a cell phone at will, but also turn-on the mic. and/or camera at will. No telco help necessary: those back-doors were installed long ago now.

I find it ironic that we Americans (yes, me included) actually pay $50 or more per month for the devices that allow for total and constant surveillance.

K&R

-app

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. We don't have any choice

I bought a new phone recently. I wanted one without a camera, and was told flat-out that it was not possible.

[Old Codger]

3. That Depends

On what you really need a phone for

http://www.jitterbug.com/?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=jitterbug+phone&utm_campaign=Jitterbug

[reggie the dog]

9. tape over the camera

or take the battery out when it is not in use

[formercia]

4. A Tin-Foil moment

Aluminum foil, actually. Turn your phone off and wrap it in foil so that it can't be queried.

By a trac-phone or similar and pay in cash. Better yet, get someone else to buy it for you. When the minutes run out, smash it. Get another.

[mopinko]

5. i smell an entrepreneurial opportunity

a tinfoil phone case. write to the people who make the otter boxes.

[formercia]

6. Faraday Cage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

Keep your signal from getting away. This angle could be worked many ways. Put a conductive strap on it and hang it around your neck.

In a pinch, you can put it in a condom and stuff it in a body cavity.

[phusion]

7. here you go

http://www.silvercell.de/indexeng.html

[arcadian]

8. Conspiracy deniers in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

n/t