Police Grab Innocent Cell User’s Data

krayzy
Nov 29, 2013
2 min read

South Carolina Police Grab Innocent Cell User’s Data Through ‘Tower Dump’ Sheriffs in Richland County, South Carolina are currently defending the use of a controversial investigation method that grants them access to thousands of cell phone user’s data. The technique, known as a “Tower Dump,” allows law enforcement to request all call, text and data transmissions from any specific time period from a cell tower’s provider. Search warrants obtained by WLTX News uncovered Richland County Sheriffs use of the technique during several cases including a 2011 vehicle break-in outside a sheriff’s home. Although police must obtain and present a search warrant to cell providers in order to access the data, the amount of information gathered, especially on those not suspected of a crime, presents a clear constitutional violation. “To turn over everybody’s telephone data to the police unrelated to any suspicion of crime, I think that’s an unreasonable search and seizure,” First Amendment attorney Jay Bender told WLTX. “I don’t think that’s permitted by the Constitution.” Under South Carolina evidence retention laws, if a suspect is convicted of a crime in which a Tower Dump was used, police can hold onto all information gathered for up to seven years, including the data of all innocent cell users. According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, innocent cell users have nothing to fear but apparently wave their rights once their data connects to a cell tower. “Somebody’s innocent phone tower data, we don’t need that, we don’t want it, we don’t care for it,” Sheriff Leon Lott said. “We’re not infringing on their rights. When they use that telephone they understand that that information is going to go to a tower.” South Carolina resident and counter-terrorism consultant Keith Pounds says he supports Tower Dumps, but argues that legal constraints regarding the technology’s use by law enforcement is shaky at best. Read More: http://www.storyleak.com/south-carolina-police-grab-innocent-cell-users-data-tower-dump/