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According to a report in the Washington Post, federal officials regularly ask for and obtain real time tracking data from cellphone companies in an effort to locate criminals such as drug traffickers and fugitives. In some cases the courts have ordered the information be turned without asking that probable cause be demonstrated. This has raised red flags with privacy advocates, especially with the new wave of GPS and E911 enabled phones being released. These phones allow the devices location to be pinpointed at the touch of a button.

Federal agents used this real time data in October 2006 to track down a serial killer in Florida, but advocate fear such tracking could be used for more nefarious purposes.

“Most people don’t realize it, but they’re carrying a tracking device in their pocket,” said Kevin Bankston of the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Cellphones can reveal very precise information about your location, and yet legal protections are very much up in the air.”

Read [Washington Post]