Cellphone Data Used In More And More Criminal Cases

With cellphone data being used to help convict Mikhail Mallayev (for killing his relative's ex-husband in Queens) and Darryl Littlejohn (for killing a John Jay graduate student), the NY Times reports, "Cellphone tracking is raising concerns about civil liberties in a debate that pits public safety against privacy rights... Civil libertarians do not oppose using cellphone surveillance to solve crimes or save people in emergencies, but they worry that the legal gray area is enabling it to happen without much scrutiny or discussion." For instance, there was the Alabama sheriff who told a cellphone carrier he needed info in an emergency situation with a child—who happened to be his teenaged daughter, "who was late returning from a date." A Pennsylvania federal court will rule on whether search warrants are needed for basic cellphone data; currently much of the data is obtained through subpoenas or court orders, which require "lower standards of judicial review." Still, Queens DA Richard Brown told the Times that criminals are "unknowingly Twittering with law enforcement" when they use cellphones.