Sprint’s 50 Million Customers Have Been Geo-Tracked 8 Million Times–in the Last Year

[kpete]

Sprint’s 50 Million Customers Have Been Geo-Tracked 8 Million Times–in the Last Year
By: emptywheel Tuesday December 1, 2009 7:28 am


Chris Soghoian caught a remarkable admission at a surveillance conference in October. Sprint’s Manager of Electronic Surveillance revealed that law enforcement has used Sprint’s geotracking function 8 million times in the thirteen months prior to his comment.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/12/01/sprints-50-million-customers-have-been-geo-tracked-8-million-times-in-the-last-year/

Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers’ (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of a new, special web portal for law enforcement officers.

The evidence documenting this surveillance program comes in the form of an audio recording of Sprint’s Manager of Electronic Surveillance, who described it during a panel discussion at a wiretapping and interception industry conference, held in Washington DC in October of 2009.

(snip)

My major concern is the volume of requests. We have a lot of things that are automated but that’s just scratching the surface. One of the things, like with our GPS tool. We turned it on the web interface for law enforcement about one year ago last month, and we just passed 8 million requests. So there is no way on earth my team could have handled 8 million requests from law enforcement, just for GPS alone. So the tool has just really caught on fire with law enforcement. They also love that it is extremely inexpensive to operate and easy, so, just the sheer volume of requests they anticipate us automating other features, and I just don’t know how we’ll handle the millions and millions of requests that are going to come in.

8 Million Reasons for Real Surveillance Oversight

Disclaimer: The information presented here has been gathered and analyzed in my capacity as a graduate student at Indiana University. This data was gathered and analyzed on my own time, without using federal government resources. This data, and the analysis I draw from it will be a major component of my PhD dissertation, and as such, I am releasing it in order to receive constructive criticism on my theories from other experts in the field. The opinions I express in my analysis are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Trade Commission, any individual Commissioner, or any other individual or organization with which I am affiliated.

lots, lots more:
http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2009/12/8-million-reasons-for-real-surveillance.html

[FarLeftFist]

1. Don't the feds own nextel?

I thought I heard that somewhere. Also note, your cell phone can be used as a listening device/wiretapped even if it's turned off, only removing the battery will stop that.

[TheWraith]

4. Neither of those things is true.

Nextel is owned by Sprint. And no, your cell phone can't listen to you if it's turned off--in fact, it can't be used as a remote listening device in that way without specialized preparation.

[Wilms]

6. The former is hard to believe on it's face. The latter, however, is confirmed here:

The surveillance technique came to light in an opinion published this week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. He ruled that the "roving bug" was legal because federal wiretapping law is broad enough to permit eavesdropping even of conversations that take place near a suspect's cell phone.

Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1029_3-6140191.html

[Neecy]

2. K&R

[enlightenment]

3. I've always thought mobile phones are the human

equivalent of tracking collars on animals. Convenience trumps privacy, clearly (especially given the number of people who will casually discuss the most private aspects of their lives in public while chatting with someone).

:shrug:

[ret5hd]

5. A more modern Stasi.

[Vidar]

7. K&R