Agency seeking wireless records (Penna. agency cell phone anonyminity alert!)

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | August 23, 2005 | Mike Wereschagin

[buzzyboop]

Pennsylvania officials who track down deadbeat parents want to mine cell phone records -- an untapped resource that contains information about more than half the people in the state.

Part of the allure of cell phones is their portability and anonymity -- they go where you go, and no one gets the number unless you give it to them. An estimated 6.5 million of Pennsylvania's 12.4 million people have cell phones. Inspired by new tracking programs in Virginia and Iowa, Pennsylvania's child support bureau wants to see whether any cell phone owners owe back child support.

Law enforcement agencies have for years eavesdropped on cell phone calls and used the devices to pinpoint a person's location, in the case of a 911 call, for instance. But using cell phone records is a new area for child support collectors.

[buzzyboop]

Another small step to Big Brother society.

[agitator]

[GovGirl]

Isn't this against the law? When E911 was introduced to Indiana, it was strictly forbidden to use this service for tracking of anyone other than a victim in need of emergency care. If I remember correctly, it couldn't even be used to track down criminals unless there was someone involved in a kidnap/hostage situation.

How does this come anywhere close to legal?

[vrwc0915]

Comrade if you have nothing to hide than you have nothing to worry about

[Mo1]

A spokeswoman at Verizon Wireless wondered whether it could lead to innocent subscribers having their numbers and addresses released to a government agency.

And you can bet if there is .. those people will sue the pants off of Verizon

[vrwc0915]

Thats what they told you, what they do is another thing all together.

[GovGirl]

Well, I saw the code (and helped deploy it), and the code says that none of this crap is legal.

I know on my phone I can turn my E911 off. There's a switch for 911 only, and one that turns it off completely. I think that function is required heretoo.

[Keith in Iowa]

They're not talking about "real-time" tracking...just data mining for addresses, phone numbers, etc.

[justche]

I'm not sure it's a bad idea. If parent's paid their child support responsibilities, no one would be looking for them. For subscription services you have to give your ss#, DL (or other photo id), plenty of personal information. I don't think you're opting out of being sold to 'marketing' partners, so in this case maybe the marketing partner is a government agency -- or something like that.

[The Red Zone]

so in this case maybe the marketing partner is a government agency -- or something like that.

"Patronize the IRS - the best tax leeches on the planet!"

[justche]

Well I was speaking of Child Support as the agency....but it's not like there's really a guarantee to privacy ;)

[vrwc0915]

They don't even need the E911 location function, every time your phone affiliates (using trunked radio terms may be called something else in cell phone land) with a tower it produces a log, Arrive with a warrant or just ask in some cases and you can tell where a cell phone has been

[vrwc0915]

Exactly comrade if you have nothing to hide than why worry.

[justche]

Well comrade--nice dig! I guess it just falls down on if you're one that is owed child support, or one that resents paying it.

Have a good day...

[timestax]

bttt

[apillar]

I imagine most people that don't want to be found will simply switch to one of those pre-paid anonymous tracphones you can buy in just about every convenience store

[vrwc0915]

I didn't intend to offend you, just a slippery slope.
Apologies offered