Group urges U.S. to require warrants for location-based tracking

21.09.2011
Law enforcement officials should be required to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before using GPS or other electronic location tracking to follow individuals, in a report released today.

The released by The Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee also calls on Congress to amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to make probable-cause warrants mandatory before accessing an individual's cell phone location data.

The include two former members of Congress, former FBI director William Session, a former U.S. Court of Appeals judge and a former chair of the American Conservative Union.

In the report, the committee contended that prolonged use of electronic tracking technologies without a warrant violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

"GPS technology has made pervasive and continuous location tracking possible in a way that was never before feasible relying solely on human law enforcement officers," the report concluded.

Location tracking technologies enable the collection of vast quantities of data that can be stored, searched and analyzed for patterns of behavior that reveal very private and personal information. Such technologies allow law enforcement to get a peek at not just a day in the life of someone they are tracking, but the person's very way of life, the report noted.