Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police

[SummerMadness]

Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police

When detectives in a Phoenix suburb arrested a warehouse worker in a murder investigation last December, they credited a new technique with breaking open the case after other leads went cold.

The police told the suspect, Jorge Molina, they had data tracking his phone to the site where a man was shot nine months earlier. They had made the discovery after obtaining a search warrant that required Google to provide information on all devices it recorded near the killing, potentially capturing the whereabouts of anyone in the area.

Investigators also had other circumstantial evidence, including security video of someone firing a gun from a white Honda Civic, the same model that Mr. Molina owned, though they could not see the license plate or attacker.

But after he spent nearly a week in jail, the case against Mr. Molina fell apart as investigators learned new information and released him. Last month, the police arrested another man: his mother's ex-boyfriend, who had sometimes used Mr. Molina's car.

 

[Hank77]

The police were given a Warrant to 'SPY' hoping to caught a criminal and innocent people had their privacy invaded at the same time!

 

[devin553344]

If it catches murderers then great. I don't really see how it could negatively affect me. Maybe someone else does?

 

[ms.smith]

I dislike the invasion of privacy. I've read about this type of search before, it's a lot less cut and dry than this quote makes it sound.

 

[variant]

If it catches murderers then great. I don't really see how it could negatively affect me. Maybe someone else does?

If they make a mistake perhaps. Corruption could also easily lead to innocents being prosecuted.

It's not like the judicial system doesn't arrest, try and convict innocent people.

Say someone borrows your car with your phone in it and goes down a street and shoots someone without your knowledge.

 

[ms.smith]

If they make a mistake perhaps. Corruption could also easily lead to innocents being prosecuted.

It's not like the judicial system doesn't arrest, try and convict innocent people.

Say someone borrows your car with your phone in it and goes down a street and shoots someone without your knowledge.

I'd best not lend out my car and my phone!

 

[Goonie]

I'd best not lend out my car and my phone!

Unlikely. it would be negligent for police not to look at the GPS locators that people willingly carry around with them if only to locate witnesses.

 

[variant]

I'd best not lend out my car and my phone!

Or any of the other smart items over the coming decades.

 

[Subduction Zone]

If they make a mistake perhaps. Corruption could also easily lead to innocents being prosecuted.

It's not like the judicial system doesn't arrest, try and convict innocent people.

Say someone borrows your car with your phone in it and goes down a street and shoots someone without your knowledge.

THen it would be a good time to tell the police who you let use your car.

 

[variant]

THen it would be a good time to tell the police who you let use your car.

Assuming you knew about any of it.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Assuming you knew about any of it.

My keys tend to be in my pocket. Though some leave spares hanging around. Please note that in this case the evidence was a starting point. New technology allows new ways to solve crimes. Right now we do not even need the DNA of the criminal to narrow down the possibilities. In my neck of the woods they just busted someone a 46 year old rape/murder case. They narrowed it down to his family from the data from the various ancestry analysis businesses and failed their number one suspect and scooped up a cup that he used and threw away:

Jody Loomis crossed paths with a killer when she was riding her bike in 1972. Now DNA from a coffee cup has led to an arrest in Snohomish County.

 

[variant]

My keys tend to be in my pocket. Though some leave spares hanging around. Please note that in this case the evidence was a starting point. New technology allows new ways to solve crimes. Right now we do not even need the DNA of the criminal to narrow down the possibilities. In my neck of the woods they just busted someone a 46 year old rape/murder case. They narrowed it down to his family from the data from the various ancestry analysis businesses and failed their number one suspect and scooped up a cup that he used and threw away:

Jody Loomis crossed paths with a killer when she was riding her bike in 1972. Now DNA from a coffee cup has led to an arrest in Snohomish County.

I'm saying that you might not know that the crime was committed simply because you borrowed someone your care like say in the OP.

 

[Nithavela]

If it catches murderers then great. I don't really see how it could negatively affect me.

I believe you that you can't see it.

 

[devin553344]

I believe you that you can't see it.

Do you see something?

 

[Nithavela]

Do you see something?

I can see that most people are okay with everyone losing freedoms they aren't personally using.

 

[SkyWriting]

Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police

I prefer the loss of privacy. It helps me find my phone and track it if stolen.

I can always pull the battery if I want to murder somebody, then put the battery back in afterwards to take pictures of the victim and post them to my Facebook page were I can privately enjoy the pics or share them with my buddies.

 

[rjs330]

It sounds like someone has an issue with the police getting a warrant. That makes no sense to me. That's constitutional. The cops didn't get the phone and just start breaking into it. They obtained a warrant. It seems the real issue is the phone itself and the ability to keep track of where you are and where you've been.

 

[thecolorsblend]

If it catches murderers then great. I don't really see how it could negatively affect me. Maybe someone else does?

The police can kick down your door, shoot your family, confiscate everything you own, throw you in jail and not even charge you with a crime.

Oops, they got the wrong house, they intended to get the house next door and got yours by mistake. But you can't take legal action against them because badges give police extra rights. So pretty much you're out of luck.

It's good that you're so comfortable with that though.

 

[Subduction Zone]

The police can kick down your door, shoot your family, confiscate everything you own, throw you in jail and not even charge you with a crime.

Oops, they got the wrong house, they intended to get the house next door and got yours by mistake. But you can't take legal action against them because badges give police extra rights. So pretty much you're out of luck.

It's good that you're so comfortable with that though.

Police are sued time after time for raids on the wrong house. Do you think that lawyers never succeed and that they are fools for even attempting? Normally a Google search would not be evidence, but since the claim is that one cannot sue the police I think that this time is an exception:

police sued for mistaken raid - Google Search

 

[devin553344]

The police can kick down your door, shoot your family, confiscate everything you own, throw you in jail and not even charge you with a crime.

Oops, they got the wrong house, they intended to get the house next door and got yours by mistake. But you can't take legal action against them because badges give police extra rights. So pretty much you're out of luck.

It's good that you're so comfortable with that though.

Well checking to see where someone is using the phone happens to be how they catch abductors of women, child predators, etc. So no I don't have a problem with it.