After reading this I jumped over to the section of the report that pertained to the 50 police departments in New Jersey. I found that the reason why these particular 50 were chosen was for no other reason other than, they were the 50 largest police departments in the state and not because they were suspected of wrong doing.
Each of the 50 police departments were sent an identical Cell Phone Tracking Information Request Letter (this is Middletown's) seeking information on how each department gathers cell phone data, all but 4 (Bayonne, Edison, Jersey City and Union City) responded.
Besides Middletown's response, I also read the responses East Brunswick, Howell, Jackson, Lakewood, Newark and Old Bridge.
There is a lot that can be said after reading the various responses above but I'm fairly convinced that a vast majority of residents living in Middletown,as well as around the state, have little to fear at the moment from Big Brother. There seems to be general proceedures in place that would safeguard against unnecessary phone tracking
However that may not be always be the case.
In most instances, nearly 3/4 of the questions asked by the ACLU went unanswered due to the lack of a policy concerning cell phone tracking or adequate record keeping.
According to Middletown's response,the last known case in which they tracked a person's cell phone was in 2008. I find that a little hard to believe considering other towns had shown that such information as recently as last year.
That being said, I won't lose to much sleep at the moment worring about who is looking at my phone records. It may be a big issue in parts of the country,but for right now I have nothing to fear and neither do fellow Middletowners, we all seem safe from the prying eyes of Big Brother,
6 comments:
They do this for known drug dealers. This is not big brother spying on you for the purpose of finding out personal information. Get over yourself, your not that important and no one cares about your personal life that much. Cops do thier jobs and this is a tool in the kit to fight crime. I am sure its not brand new patrolmen that are the ones responsable for the oversight of this. Don't you want to get drug dealers and the suppliers off the streets??? Or are you a customer???
So, if it is for 'known' people, why do they not need a warrant? We cant forgoe due procedure and protections just for safety.
Hey Anon 3:04 did you even read Mike's blog? He said he's NOT worried about this practice. Go crawl back in your hole Legion.
Anon 3:04
Your comment is asinine and shows your ignorance. Did you take the time to read about the ACLU's inquiry and their conclusion? Did you read the request for information letter or the various responses to the letter? Based on your comment I would say not.
Cell phones can be tracked at will by your service provider or government agency whether it be Federal, State or local, with the proper equipment. You don't need to be a known drug dealer to have your movements monitored by authorities.
Anon 10:26
If you read some of the responses to the request letters you can see that there is no standard for obtaining cell phone records or cell phone tracking nationwide.
Some law enforcement agencies do obtain warrants for this information while others do not.
I feel that a warrant is necessary for this and thankfully it seems, many if not all the respondents from NJ think it is appropriate also.
I encourage you and everyone else that reads this post to follow through and read the ACLU's report on this. Follow any of links in the report and see for yourself what other law enforcement agencies around the country are doing in this regard.
It is eye opening, especially if you are a minority.
I have nothing to hide, Follow me all day long, I may not be as interesting as big brother may think...sorry, will try harder!
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