Since H.G. Wells’s novel 1984 was published in 1949, any time a large entity, whether it be a government or a business, has made an attempt to monitor those it governs or employs, people have jokingly made references to “Big Brother,” the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-controlling character in the novel. At the time it was written, 1984 was a long way off, and it was easy to imagine the government getting to the point it did in the story, being able to monitor everyone’s actions and thoughts. Now that we’re well past that point in history, it’s almost comical to look back and think that in 1984, the government could have accomplished any kind of large-scale monitoring with technology being what it was then. The Internet was still in its infancy, cellular phones weren’t as widely used as they are now, and were as big as people’s heads to boot. But now, 26 years later, technology is far more advanced and widespread, and many more people are connected by it. People’s dependence on technology has made it much easier to communicate, but also to track and monitor, if that is the goal. One way this is more possible now is with cell phones and the cell phone towers, and the government wants to use them to track certain citizens.
If you’ve ever watched shows like CSI or Law & Order, you’ve probably seen at least one episode where the police get access to a suspect’s cell phone records. Cell phone towers are used to triangulate the suspect’s whereabouts when they make a call, and they are subsequently arrested. This makes for good drama, and no one minds this happening because the people targeted are criminals. This is actually not far from real life.
Two years ago, more than 20 banks in Texas were robbed by the same armed men known as the “Scarecrow Bandits.” The FBI worked with wireless carriers to use cellular towers and access logs to narrow down cell phone calls that had been made at or near the time of the robberies. Through this method, the FBI was able to track down two men who were eventually convicted of the robberies. Apparently, this was the first, and so far only time the FBI used these techniques to locate and convict criminals. But it worked so well, they’re seeing permission to do it on a regular basis.
According to CNET, the U.S. Department of Justice is now arguing for legal guidelines to establish standards for tracking via wireless devices—without warrants. The government stated that this tracking should be allowed because citizens have no “reasonable expectation of privacy” when they use a cell phone or other wireless device. They go on to state that “ a customer’s Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records” to indicate calls made and received by a cell phone. For those who need the reminder, the Fourth Amendment protects Americans “against unreasonable search and seizure,” and requires a warrant be issued based upon probable cause before a search can take place.
As would be expected in any case like this, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as well as the Electronic Fronteir Foundation, opposes this plan, and is trying to fight any such permission being given to authorities. It would be nice to think that broad permissions like this would be used responsibly, but many instances of law enforcement agencies overstepping their bounds can also be cited.
What do you think? Should the government be able to track people without warrants via their cell phone use? Or has Big Brother finally become a reality?
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