Christina Fuentes
Watch out as the government is tracking your every move, literally! Modern day technology and the use of cell phone tracking devices is causing both the government and cell phone carriers to know everything about you.
“About 90% of Americans are walking around with a portable tracking device all the time, and they have no idea,” said Christopher Calabrese, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington office, in a TIMES article. Cell phones send out constant signals to phone towers that allow your carrier to know where you are. This is done for signal purposes, however it is information that gets stored. In addition, smartphones have GPS chips embedded in them that can state your exact location.
Cell phone users can even “ping” others to find out ones exact location. This data information is kept indefinitely by cell phone carriers and can be help for up to 20 years by the government.
Consumers have mixed opinions on the their devices being tracked as some claim it is helpful while others believe it to be invasive. In a recent USA Today article, executive director for the Center of Digital Democracy Jeffrey Chester said, “Consumers don’t want their smart phones outsmarting them or their kids.” Michael Fertik, who is the CEO of reputation.com quoted, “Politically, this is a universal issue. If you’re a liberal, you probably don’t like people taking your data without your consent. If you’re a conservative, you probably don’t like invasion of privacy. And if you’re a libertarian, you probably don’t like that your data are being taken without your knowledge or consent.”
However with all of this being said the use of tracking smartphone devices has come in handy over the past year. Apps have even been generated to capture pictures of the perpetrators who are trying to steal or unlock the phone.
A Queens’s man, Brian Chattoo, was recently found guilty on both charges of fourth degree grand larceny and criminal possession as the app iGotcha snapped a photo of him when he tried unlocking a stolen iPhone. Chattoo allegedly robbed a 31-year-old woman after bumping into her, removing the phone from her right front pocket, and fleeing the scene. The photo that was captured on the iGotcha app was then emailed to the victim and she showed it to local police.
- iPhone, Android, and Blackberry which all have GPS chips inserted in them.
Android and Blackberry users are also involve in the app markets however, Apple has risen the stakes. Apple has now integrated the tracking devices to their Mac notebooks as the recent lion update allows one to locate their Mac from another computer and clear out all of its data. Congress is trying to fix this issue by adjusting the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and making a search warrant necessary for even the government to access ones personal data.
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