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Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, said he was concerned about reportsthat after a Supreme Court decision on tracking using GPS devices,state and local law enforcement agencies may be requesting thelocation records of individuals directly from their wirelesscarriers instead of tracking individuals through GPS devicesinstalled on vehicles, according to a copy of the letter on the website of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Supreme Court ruled in January that the use of GPS devices to track individuals amounted to asearch and required a warrant under the Fourth Amendment of theU.S. Constitution, which protects individuals from unreasonablesearches. U.S. law enforcement agents collected information by installing aGPS device on the vehicle of Antoine Jones, a Washington nightclubowner, that lead to his conviction on drug trafficking conspiracycharges. "I am eager to learn about how frequently the Department requestslocation information and what legal standard the Departmentbelieves it must meet to obtain it," Franken said in the letteraddressed to attorney general Eric Holder which is dated May 10.Franken also wants to know how the Department may have changed itspractices after the Supreme Court decision. Congressman Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, sentlast Thursday a letter to nine major wireless carriers, includingAT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, asking them about their policiesand practices for sharing their customers' mobile phone informationwith law enforcement agencies, including whether they consider ifcourt warrants have been obtained. Markey also asked if thecarriers accepted payments and other forms of compensation inexchange for the information provided. The tracking of cellphones by law enforcement, once used mainly byfederal agents, is widely used as a surveillance tool by localpolice officials, who often use it with "little or no courtoversight," The New York Times reported in March. The carrierscharged for the information, the newspaper added. Many of the about 200 law enforcement agencies, responding topublic record requests by the ACLU, track cellphones without awarrant, it said in April. The information was gathered underfreedom of information laws, it said. John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breakingnews from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro . John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Arabic Alphabet Chart , China Digital Quran Pen Reader for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Digital Quran Pen Reader.
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