No Cell Phone Tracking Without Probable Cause

EFF:

Agreeing with a brief submitted by EFF, a federal judge forcefully rejected the government’s request to track the location of a mobile phone user without a warrant.
Strongly reaffirming an earlier decision, Federal Magistrate James Orenstein in New York comprehensively smacked down every argument made by the government in an extensive, fifty-seven page opinion issued this week. Judge Orenstein decided, as EFF has urged, that tracking cell phone users in real time required a showing of probable cause that a crime was being committed. Judge Orenstein’s opinion was decisive, and referred to government arguments variously as “unsupported,” “misleading,” “contrived,” and a “Hail Mary.”