New privacy laws needed that entail GPS technology, hot-headed rogue cops
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted June 26th 2010 2:02PM
posted June 26th 2010 2:02PM
An expert testifying at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said on Thursday that the government needs to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Among the criticisms was the fact that it doesn't adequately address location-aware technologies. "With regard to this type of location data, ECPA's statutory framework is profoundly unsatisfying," said Marc Zwillinger of Zwillinger and Genetski, a Washington DC law firm that specializes in cybercrime. "[I]t fails to provide clear guidance for situations in which the government seeks to track an individual's precise movements, leaving the answer to the general application of Fourth Amendment principles and significant variation across jurisdictions." In other words, the wording of the law is extremely nebulous, a situation that can lead to confusion (and civil right violations).
And if it weren't enough that courts and law enforcement are applying decades-old law to cutting edge technology, "the current law is overly secretive because warrants for wiretaps and other communications intercepts are often sealed for years after they are issued," writes Gautham Nagesh in The Hill. He cites U.S. Magistrate Stephen Smith of the Southern District of Texas as charging that "the brunt of that secrecy is borne by people who are never charged with a crime but have the misfortune to contact someone whose communications are being monitored."
And if it weren't enough that courts and law enforcement are applying decades-old law to cutting edge technology, "the current law is overly secretive because warrants for wiretaps and other communications intercepts are often sealed for years after they are issued," writes Gautham Nagesh in The Hill. He cites U.S. Magistrate Stephen Smith of the Southern District of Texas as charging that "the brunt of that secrecy is borne by people who are never charged with a crime but have the misfortune to contact someone whose communications are being monitored."
Well, we're glad that someone in Washington seems to think that the ECPA needs overhauled -- but we'll remain skeptical until we see something concrete. Regardless, we doubt that a simple change in law will keep McNulty from doing whatever he has to do to make his case. He's real police.
Good to keep privacy laws up to date lest information be abused by those in power.
@ChocNut
Or apple....
I'm waiting for the german dataprotection ombudsman to get his sights on iphone EULA. I doubt he will be happy about the GPS data being sent to apple. Might throw the whole phone out of Germany.
awesome. google latitude still freaks me out.
@untrueparadox
It's a cheaper version of MobileMe if you're jailbroken though.
And while they're at it, why not get rid of the ridiculous wiretap video laws!
Kudos for the Wire reference!
Best engadget article of the week.
The Wire = Best show ever
@vitamind x100
@vitamind The Wire for life.
If you break the law and are stupid enough to run around with you phone / GPS / etc turned on you deserve what's coming to you.
@wraith404
Yes, those pesky rights. Always used only be criminals. We'd live in such a utopian society if we did away with all those stupid freedoms, rights, and liberties and gave the police and government complete, unchecked power!
I love The Wire. Question? So how does Alt work, if an editor see something that qualifies for Alt, does he/she just throw it buy Josh or does Josh assigns stories ?
I disagree with this article. There are plenty of laws already on the books to protect privacy and the probable cause standard to get a wire tap or search warrant which is required to track someone's movements via GPS is adequate.
People are not paranoid enough. Damn cops, I know they're probably skimming my emails right now. We need more laws to protect us from the MAN. Next thing I know, they're gonna be asking for my immigration status.
The CIA is probably all over this post right now. Damn, I'm gonna change my username and burn my computer.
Why should I care if the government knows where I am all the time? Don't give me some vague "ooh big brother is watching" threat. Seriously, why should I care?
@jjsavage Because they're spending YOUR tax dollars to do it. You're automatically invested in your government, you should care what they're doing.