IP: ISPI Clips 6.17: FCC Accepting Comments on Mandatory Cell Phone Tracking

[Vladimir Z. Nuri]

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore at email.msn.com>
Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 6.17: FCC Accepting Comments on Mandatory Cell Phone Tracking
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 00:26:49 -0800
To: <Undisclosed.Recipients at majordomo.pobox.com>

ISPI Clips 6.17: FCC Accepting Comments on Mandatory Cell Phone Tracking
News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI)
Friday November 6, 1998
ISPI4Privacy at ama-gi.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part One:

This From: Coalition for Constitutional Liberties, Weekly Update for
11/06/98
                    Volume I, Number 37
http://www.freecongress.org/cfcl/latest.htm

Comment Period for CALEA Wiretapping Regulations Announced

The Federal Communications Commission announced this week that it would
be accepting comments in response to its Notice of Proposed Rule Making
until December 14th. The Commission proposed requiring cellular and
other wireless phone companies to track the location of their customers,
identifying the cell site at the beginning and end of every call. Weekly
Update readers and organizations are encouraged to submit their written
comments to the FCC:

Federal Communications Commission
1919 M St.
Washington, DC 20554
Re: Docket # 97-213


The Center for Democracy and Technology has set up a website for those
interested in filing comments: http://www.cdt.org/action/filing.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part Two:

This From: The Center for Democracy and Technology, October 28, 1998
http://www.cdt.org

FCC PROPOSES LOCATION TRACKING FOR WIRELESS PHONES
http://www.cdt.org/action/filing.html

As the FBI has realized, new communications technology can be designed in
ways that vastly increase the potential for government surveillance.
Cellular and other wireless phones can generate information that can be
used to locate individuals even if they aren't suspected of a crime.

The FCC, with urging from the FBI, is considering a proposal to use your
cellphone as a personal tracking device. This unprecedented attack on your
privacy must be opposed.

Cellular phones have become integral to many peoples' lives. Over fifty
million ordinary Americans carry cellular phones with them as they go about
their daily activities. Cellular phones are far more closely linked to an
individual than are wireline phones. In essense, a cellular phone can
become a tracking device, revealing to the government far more about your
whereabouts, your associations, and your activities than the government can
learn about you from the fact that your home phone was used to make a call
a particular time of day.

In 1994, when this topic was being debated in Congress, FBI Director Freeh
testified that location information was not mandated by law. FBI Director
Freeh testified that the law, "does not include any information which might
disclose the general location of a mobile facility or service."

Congress wanted to protect privacy, and took the FBI at its word that it
would not seek to use cellphones as citizen tracking devices.

Now the FCC, with urging from the FBI, is proposing to rewrite the law,
requiring location information as part of a nationwide surveillance
capability. This will allow the FBI to use your cellphone as a personal
tracking device.

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