Do you have any privacy?

Whatever happened to our right to privacy? GONE! Now we live in an age of surveillance everywhere and with everyone clutching their cell phones wherever we go, they know where we have been all the time. We have the 4^th Amendment to the Constitution that protects us from unlawful search and seizure but that was written in a time where we were free to come and go as we pleased. Not anymore. Our cell phones track everywhere we have been any time of any day. Maybe that is a good thing but it still cramps my sense of freedom. America is all about our freedom.

Right now the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case that involves our 4^th Amendment rights in a world of surveillance. The case is about a guy, Timothy Carpenter who was convicted in a series of armed robberies. The main evidence was his cell phone that put him within a 2 mile radius of the crimes. The police were able to access his cell phone records for 120 days. They were able then to piece his every move. THE POLICE DOES NOT NEED A WARRANT TO DO SO!

Now without our permission anyone could potentially track our every move through cell phone records. No warrants are required for historical location data in most states. Only nine states require a warrant for historical location data. Verizon is the largest wireless telecom company in the United States with almost 115 million subscribers.  In the past six months law enforcement processed over 20 thousand requests for phone records. It is no longer just who you made calls to or received calls. The GPS on your phone tracks YOU.

The digital trail of you is the core discussion involving our 4^th Amendment search and seizure rights. The Supreme Court needs to make some new decisions in this new world of GPS tracking of individuals. The fancy name for our trail and who can track our whereabouts is called The Third- Party Doctrine. It is an old concept that dates back to the 1960’s and 70’s and the court rulings that happened then. Since phone companies will see your location records anyway, you will have little expectation of privacy but now the whole GPS system that tracks your whereabouts without making a phone call or receiving a phone call opens up a new can of surveillance worms.

Lower Courts like the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court ruled that real-time cellphone location tracking is not a 4^th Amendment issue. So anyone gets t know where I have been without my knowledge or permission? I don’t like it but here we are.

Ok so the courts say that it is more of a privacy issue rather than a search and seizure issue but I don’t want to be hauled to jail for some crime just because I was near the place where the crime happened! Are we safe from some crime anywhere on the planet? The Carpenter case will determine how much privacy we have especially where crime exist. The IRS, Internal Revenue Service has already used cell phone records to spy on people as to where their bank accounts exist. They are getting your banking traffic without your permission.

A  landmark decision is expected by June on this case and hopefully it will clear up just what is our right to privacy in America is if we even have any privacy any longer.