[srmanuel]

Perhaps, but doesn’t it feel sort of wrong that private individuals can gather enough data to trace your activities based on the location of your cell phone all without a warrant or any suspicion of doing anything wrong....

In this case, if they can prove massive voter fraud we would all cheer for it, but what if the same data is used to track gun owners or some other activity we on the right engage in...??

[Rockingham]

The collection and use of cell phone geolocation data is legal but at times troubling. The government has been accessing the data for years but kept it secret, relying when necessary on the "business record" exception to the requirement for a full court-issued search warrant. That helped avert many terror plots by permitting law enforcement to take thin leads, prove them true, and round up all the plotters at one swoop. Meanwhile, realtime GPS cell data also helps with emergency services and, for commercial purposes, provides driving directions that contribute to safer and more efficient travel.

Yes, there are inevitable abuses like rogue police officers secretly tracking their exes or accessing data for dodgy private purposes. Yet if one watches real-life crime shows, one will also see murder cases solved and innocent suspects cleared because cell phone data verified otherwise dubious alibis. On the whole, additional legislation seems likely to further restrict but not elminate cell phone datamining. It is too valuable a tool to lose.