美国国家公共电台 NPR In Major Privacy Win, Supreme Court Rules Police Need Warrant To Track Your Cellphone

 

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In a landmark¹ decision, the U.S. Supreme² Court ruled today that police must obtain a search warrant in order to gain access to an individual's cellphone location information. The 5 to 4 decision imposes new limits on law enforcement's ability to get at the increasing amount of data that private companies amass³ in the modern technological⁴ age. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁵: Customers' cellphone location information is routinely kept by cellphone providers to help them improve service. And until today, under the Supreme Court's prior rulings, the prevailing⁶ legal theory was that if an individual voluntarily shares his information with a third party by signing up for service, for instance, police do not need a search warrant to get that information from the service provider. Today, the Supreme Court blew a hole in that theory.

Writing for the court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that cellphone location information is the perfect tool for government surveillance, analogous⁷ to an electronic monitoring bracelet⁸. The writers of the Constitution, he said, would certainly have understood that an individual has a privacy interest in day-to-day, hour-to-hour and even minute-to-minute records of his whereabouts, a privacy interest that requires the government to get a search warrant before gaining access to that information.

The case before the court was brought by Timothy Carpenter, prosecuted⁹ as a ringleader in a series of armed robberies in Michigan and Ohio. Cell tower location information showing he was at the robbery sites was used as damning evidence at his trial. Carpenter appealed his conviction, contending that police invaded his privacy without getting a search warrant first. Today, the Supreme Court agreed, declaring that the routine court order that police obtained in Carpenter's case only required a showing that police were seeking relevant information, whereas a search warrant requires that police meet a far higher standard.

ORIN KERR: Big Brother is coming, and we need to stop it. That seems to be the big takeaway from the opinion.

TOTENBERG: Fourth Amendment¹⁰ scholar Orin Kerr of the University of Southern California.

KERR: It almost reflects an anxiety about technology thwarting¹¹ privacy. If we don't stop the government here, what will they be able to do?

TOTENBERG: Columbia law professor Jameel Jaffer.

JAMEEL JAFFER: This is a landmark privacy case. But it's also a very significant case for First Amendment freedoms - that is, for the freedoms of speech and the press and association. A government that can track your every movement without a warrant is a government that can freely monitor activists¹²' political associations or monitor government employees' contacts with the press.

TOTENBERG: But Jaffer concedes that today's decision poses practical problems and leaves open important questions. Chief Justice Roberts cast the decision as a narrow one. It does not disturb the routine use of subpoenas¹³ to obtain financial, bank and other business records, he said, nor does it prevent police from obtaining cell location records without a warrant in emergency circumstances like a fleeing suspect, a kidnapping or threats of imminent¹⁴ danger.

Moreover, he said, the decision does not call into question the use of security cameras and other techniques, and it does not consider other collection techniques involving foreign affairs and national security. What it does do, he said, is to ensure that the progress of science does not erode¹⁵ the Fourth Amendment guarantee of privacy.

Roberts, a conservative, was joined by the court's four liberal justices. The court's other four conservatives dissented¹⁶ loudly, each writing separately to indicate his strong disagreement. While each had a different approach, they all said today's decision would lead to confusion, litigation and problems for law enforcement. Ed McAndrew, a former federal prosecutor¹⁷, agrees. He notes that cell location information is often gathered at the early stages of an investigation¹⁸ when there isn't enough information for a search warrant. The same is true in terrorism and national security investigations¹⁹.

ED MCANDREW: And the national security context is only going to be different if we're dealing²⁰ with foreign nationals. If we're dealing with American citizens, the Fourth Amendment principle's going to apply.

TOTENBERG: Justice Stephen Breyer, who joined today's majority opinion, may have foreseen some of these problems at oral argument.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEPHEN BREYER: This is an open box. We know not where we go.

TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

1 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 amass   

vt.积累，积聚

参考例句：

• How had he amassed his fortune?他是如何积累财富的呢？
• The capitalists amass great wealth by exploiting workers.资本家剥削工人而积累了巨额财富。

4 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

7 analogous   

adj.相似的；类似的

参考例句：

• The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
• The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。

8 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

9 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

10 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

11 thwarting   

阻挠( thwart的现在分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The republicans are trying to embarrass the president by thwarting his economic program. 共和党人企图通过阻挠总统的经济计划使其难堪。
• There were too many men resisting his authority thwarting him. 下边对他这个长官心怀不服的，故意作对的，可多着哩。

12 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 subpoenas   

n.（传唤出庭的）传票( subpoena的名词复数 )v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• My company has complied with committee subpoenas by supplying documents confirming all that I have said. 本公司按照委员会的要求，提供了能够证实我刚才发言的文件。 来自辞典例句
• Congressional Investigations: Subpoenas and Contempt Power. Report for Congress April 2, 2003. 金灿荣：《美国国会的监督功能》，载《教学与研究》2003年第2期。 来自互联网

14 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

15 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

16 dissented   

不同意，持异议( dissent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We dissented from the decision. 对那项决定我们表示了不同意见。
• He dissented and questioned the justice of the award. 他提出质问，说裁判不公允。

17 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

19 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

20 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。