Most people do not realize this, but the reality is that cell phones are tracking devices that governments, law enforcement authorities, \u00a0and even big corporations can use to easily track your movements.\u00a0The American Civil Liberties Union<\/a>\u00a0(ACLU) and the New York Times recently reported that cellphones of private individuals in the US are being tracked without warrants by state and local law enforcement all across the country.\u00a0With more than 300 million cellphones in the US connected to more than 200,000 cell phone towers, cellphone tracking software can pinpoint the location of a phone and document the places the cellphone user visits over the course of a day, week, month or longer.\u00a0As a result, government officials can learn a tremendous amount of detailed personal information<\/p>\n about a person by accessing their location history from their cell phone company, ranging from which friends people are seeing to where they go to the doctor to how often they go to church.<\/p>\n Roving bug<\/em><\/p>\n Not only do cell phones track you wherever you go, they can also be used to listen to your private conversations even when they are\u00a0turned off.\u00a0According\u00a0to CNET News<\/a>, the FBI can remotely activate the microphone on your cell phone and listen to whatever you are saying.\u00a0The technique is called a “roving bug,” and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials.<\/p>\n “Extraction devices”<\/strong><\/p>\n According the American Civil Liberties Union<\/a>. authorities have\u00a0portable machines called “extraction devices” that have the potential to download personal information from motorists they pull over.\u00a0The devices,\u00a0sold by a company called Cellebrite, can download text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data from most brands of cell phones. The handheld machines have various interfaces to work with different models and can even bypass security passwords and access some information.<\/p>\n License Plate Readers<\/strong><\/p>\n The use of\u00a0automatic license plate scannreaders is spreading. In an article in the Times<\/em><\/a>, it was found that the ACLU is\u00a0already\u00a0calling the license-plate readers \u201cthe next big thing in government tracking.\u201d The\u00a0government stores the information, it is not trying to solve an ongoing crime \u2014 it is building a database. “These databases can quickly fill up with all sorts of details about how people lead their lives by\u00a0piecing together the locations of a particular license plate over time.\u00a0The federal government is also making money available to states to acquire license-plate readers.<\/p>\n Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n A Forbes<\/em> article<\/a> reported that Department of Justice (DOJ) released a 10-page paper that\u00a0outlined the Fed\u2019s guidelines in spying on the financial transactions of Americans.\u00a0The act is called \u201cHotwatch\u201d and in a nutshell means that the government can watch in real time the activity of\u00a0credit card\u00a0transactions, airline and hotel reservations, debit card transactions, etc<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “You are being watched.” In our digital age many pieces of electronic communication is monitored and stored.\u00a0The technology for tracking and identifying people is exploding. Privacy is eroding fast as technology offers the government increasing ways to track and spy … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/fluebug\/files\/2012\/11\/5833417762_64d913e707-214x300.jpg\")
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