Privacy advocates target US Justice Department over mobile phone tracking

Only a few days after the US Justice Department was forced to settle for $5.8 million with a man it accused of causing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, the government arm is again facing down the barrel of privacy advocates. (See: US to compensate anthrax accused $5.8 million)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are suing the US Department of Justice over its ability to track individuals via their mobile phones. The complaint was filed after the Justice Department failed to release the records following a request filed by the ACLU in November last year under the Freedom of Information Act.

The request was filed after reports that law enforcement agencies had been using mobile phones to track individuals without obtaining a warrant. Some government officials at the time said they did not need probable cause to obtain tracking information from mobile phones. In addition, the reports said some federal law enforcement agents had obtained tracking data from wireless carriers without any court oversight.

The ACLU and EFF are seeking documents, memos, and guides regarding policies and procedures for cell-phone-based tracking of individuals. The groups also want to know the number of times the government has sought cell-phone location information without court permission and how many times it has obtained the information.

"This is a critical opportunity to shed much-needed light on possibly unconstitutional government surveillance techniques," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney at the ACLU and lead attorney on the case.

"Signing up for cellphone services should not be synonymous with signing up to be spied on and tracked by the government."

"The public has an overwhelming interest in the requested information, which concerns our most personal communications," said David L. Sobel, senior counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-counsel on the case.

"But remarkably, the Justice Department refused to respond quickly to the request, as the law requires when 'urgent' information is at issue. Further delay will allow important privacy policies to be developed behind closed doors. "

Founded in 1920 by Crystal Eastman and Roger Baldwin, the ACLU was the successor to the earlier National Civil Liberties Bureau founded during World War I. It works through litigation, legislation, and community action.

The ACLU's stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." Lawsuits brought by the ACLU have been influential in the evolution of US Constitutional law.

The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases in which it considers civil liberties to be at risk. Even when the ACLU does not provide direct legal representation, it often submits amicus curiae briefs.

The EFF is an international non-profit advocacy and legal organisation based in the United States with the stated purpose of being dedicated to preserving free speech rights such as those protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution in the context of today's digital age.

Its stated main goal is to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties. The EFF is supported by donations and is based in San Francisco, California, with staff members in Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Brussels, the seat of the European Union. They are also accredited observers at the World Intellectual Property Organization.

EFF has taken action in several ways; it provides or funds legal defense in court, defends individuals and new technologies from the chilling effects of what it considers baseless or misdirected legal threats, provides guidance to the government and courts, organizes political action and mass mailings, supports some new technologies which it believes preserve personal freedoms, maintains a database and web sites of related news and information, monitors and challenges potential legislation that it believes would infringe on personal liberties and fair use, and solicits a list of what it considers patent abuses with intentions to defeat those that it considers without merit.