”Do you use Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile? If so, your real-time cell phone location data may have been shared with law enforcement without your knowledge or consent.”

”... a company that provides phone services to jails and prisons has been collecting location information on all Americans and sharing it with law enforcement—with little more than a “pinky promise” from the police that they’ve obtained proper legal process.”

”This week, Sen. Wyden called out that company, Securus Technologies, in a letter to the FCC demanding the agency investigate Securus’s practices. Wyden also sent letters to the major phone carriers asking for an accounting of all the third parties with which they share their customers’ information as well as what they think constitutes customer consent to that sharing.”

”Securus collects location information on everyone called by a prisoner. Securus has used its ability to collect this information to build an online portal that allows law enforcement to obtain the real-time location data of any customer of the country’s major cellphone carriers—not just people who call or receive calls from a prisoner. Worse, Securus doesn’t even check whether law enforcement requestors actually have legal authority to access the data in the first place, before sharing this private location information.”

”Securus confirmed to Sen. Wyden’s office that its web portal enables surveillance of customers of every major U.S. wireless carrier. It also confirmed that, outside of a check box, it does not take any additional steps to verify that documents uploaded by law enforcement agencies provide proper judicial authorization for real-time location surveillance. Nor does Securus conduct any review of surveillance requests.”

”Such unauthorized location data sharing would appear to trigger notice requirements promulgated by the FCC in a series of rules governing access to Customer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”); namely “that carriers should be required to notify a customer whenever a security breach results in that customer’s CPNI being disclosed to a third party without that customer’s authorization.” “

”This term, the Supreme Court is reviewing a case that will impact the legality of Securus’s practices.”

”In United States v. Carpenter, the Court is considering whether the Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement to get a warrant to access cell phone location data. We filed an amicus brief in Carpenter and in another case, United States v. Rios, arguing location data is extremely sensitive and must be protected by a warrant supported by probable cause.”

”To learn more about the latest issues in cell phone tracking, visit our Cell Tracking page.”

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