Editorial #1

Editorial- Published February 11, 2010
Link- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12fri3.html

Cell Phones and Privacy

This article discusses how phones are a device which holds personal information on it which should be protected by the law. Cell phones have adapted over the years to hold more information and it is like a walking diary, it holds information that the person carrying wants to keep safe. Cell phone providers can see where you are at any given moment in time which may concern many people. The writer brought up that this "tracking device" can expose to what you are doing like attending a religous service or involvment in a protest. Some of these are things that people want to keep private. Police have used cell phone providers to find suspects to a crime in which they may or may not have committed. The writer also say that "the fourth amendment requires the government to obtain a search warrent for locational records after showing probable cause for connecting the phone user to criminal activity." The writer believes that if the court allows the government to obtain these records without probable cause it will impact the privacy of people. Is the government doing the right thing just to protect us or are they abusing this power.

As we have discussed in class the amendments do not specify privacy through technology because the creators of the constitution did not have these technological advancements back then. Therefore, many argue the governement abuses this power and since it is not stated in the constitution then they can track us down by using our cell phone providers. I think this is much like the government tapping into our phone lines and listening to our conversation. The government does not care or report harmless day to day activities but they look for suspicouis activities which may be against the law. The government is trying to protect us from criminals and does not care about if we are at church or involved in a protest. I think people are simply overreacting. If the government is truely abusing this power then have them get a warrent but I believe the government is simply trying to protect the community.