New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data 31
An anonymous reader sends this quote from the NY Times:
"Staking out new ground in the noisy debate about technology and privacy in law enforcement, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that the police will now have to get a search warrant before obtaining tracking information from cellphone providers. The ruling (PDF) puts the state at the forefront of efforts to define the boundaries around a law enforcement practice that a national survey last year showed was routine, and typically done without court oversight or public awareness. With lower courts divided on the use of cellphone tracking data, legal experts say, the issue is likely to end up before the United States Supreme Court. The New Jersey decision also underscores the extent of the battles over government intrusion into personal data in a quickly advancing digital age, from small town police departments to the National Security Agency's surveillance of e-mail and cellphone conversations."
I see what you did there. (Score:3, Funny)
You pull out an NSA. We pull out a Supreme Court ruling. THAT's the New Jersey way. You gotta problem with that buddy?
Re:I see what you did there. (Score:4, Funny)
This ruling is for the police, not the NSA.
Yeah, and an important step. What we saw in the UK, regarding these "anti-terrorist" data gathering exercises was local police and government using them at the drop of a hat. At least removing them from the equation fixes part of the problem, and hopefully prevents New Jersey police from tackling car insurance cases by using the same tools applied to international terrorists.