Tracking us by phone
A federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against government agencies using purchased cellphone data to track people raises the specter of a Big Brother intent on tearing apart the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 2 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demands the release of records that the ACLU has been seeking for months through the proper channels to no avail.
The ACLU alleges the government bought access to databases compiled by smartphone apps that contain “precise location information for millions of people.”
The supposed goal is to track information on immigrants.
Even if one supports an all-out war on illegal immigration, the also illegal collection by American government agencies of private information on citizens must sound alarms for immediate action.
The Wall Street Journal first reported in February that the Trump administration was buying access to such data through a company named Venntel, which was selling database access to DHS, ICE and CBP.
Buying this information rather than going through the proper channels to obtain a search warrant is a clear violation of Fourth Amendment protections. The U.S. Supreme Court said so in 2018. The case (Carpenter v. United States) yielded a ruling that collecting significant quantities of historical location data from cellphones amounts to a government search and requires a warrant.
CBP officials confirmed to U.S. Senate staff in September that it was tracking phones using Venntel’s product, according to a group of Democratic senators who urged a DHS watchdog investigation into the tracking. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is among a group of U.S. senators who want answers. Standing with him shoulder to shoulder are Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both of Massachusetts, and Brian Schatz of Hawaii. Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, where are you? Where are you on this issue?
And as for where you are, physically, well, perhaps some government agents could use their phone location data surveillance program to tell us. Frightening.