Warning: The Feds Use Your Cell Phone To Track You

Turn on your cell phone, and federal agencies can legally track your comings and goings and exact location --- all without having to get a court warrant. That's the latest frightening news from our Big Brothers in Washington. This latest piece of disheartening privacy news comes from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which notes that a federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that the feds can legally use cell site data to track any cell phone's physical location, without having to obtain a search warrant.

The feds did quite a bit of judge-shopping to get this ruling. They were previously shot down by three other courts, which called the request "unsupported," "misleading," and "contrived."

But they finally found their man, Magistrate Judge Gorenstein of the federal court for the Southern District of New York, who was only too happy to comply with the request for privacy invasion, free of court oversight.

Should we be surprised? President Bush orders the super-secret National Security Agency to wiretap citizens without court orders. The FBI has been spying on groups such as animal rights groups and religious organizations. The New York City police spy on political protesters, who are only exercising their right to free speech.

And now all you need to do is turn on your cell phone, and the feds are on your case.