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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Rachel Myers, ACLU National, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media@aclu.org
Sara Mullen, ACLU of PA, (215) 592-1513 x122
Rebecca Jescheke, EFF, (415) 436-9333 x125; rebecca@eff.org
Brock N. Meeks, CDT, (202) 637-9800 x114; brock@cdt.org 

ACLU, EFF And CDT In Court Thursday For Arguments In Cell Phone Tracking Case

Tracking Individuals Without Probable Cause Is Unconstitutional, Say Groups

PHILADELPHIA

The
American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Pennsylvania, Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
will be in federal court on Thursday to argue for more privacy
protections in the use of cell phones as tracking devices by law
enforcement agents.

On November 21, 2007, the United
States applied for court permission to obtain information about the
location of an individual's cell phone, without showing probable cause
that tracking the individual would turn up evidence of a crime. A
magistrate judge denied the government's request and a district court
upheld that decision in September 2008. The government is appealing the
ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The ACLU, ACLU of Pennsylvania, EFF
and CDT filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the district
court decision, arguing that district courts must require the
government to show probable cause before permitting the government to
obtain information about the location of a cell phone.

The brief is available online at: www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/matter-application-united-states-america-aclu-amicus-brief

WHAT:
Oral arguments in the case called "In
the matter of the application of the United States of America for an
order directing a provider of electronic communication service to
disclose records to the government." The U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit will decide whether government agencies in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware must show probable cause before
tracking people's cell phone locations.

WHO:
Kevin Bankston of EFF and Susan
Freiwald of the University of San Francisco School of Law will argue
before Judges Dolores K. Sloviter and Jane R. Roth of the Third Circuit
Court of Appeals and A. Wallace Tashima of the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals, sitting by designation.

WHEN:
Thursday, February 11, 2010
9:30 a.m. EST

WHERE:
United States Courthouse
Albert Branson Maris Courtroom, 19th Floor
6th and Market Streets
Philadelphia, PA

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(212) 549-2666