““The office needs policies to stop an officer from using this technology to track the whereabouts of his ex-wife, a politician from tracking the whereabouts of their opponents, or officers from surveilling people they just don’t like,” she added. ‘
Emily Lane Oct 23, 2019
Two New Orleans-area sheriff’s offices contracted with a company that gave them access to location data of any cell phone the agencies sought to track.
From 2015 to mid-2018, the Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office—which has jurisdiction over Louisiana’s second-most populous parish and also runs its jail—captured more than 5,800 coordinates showing a cell phone’s location, said agency spokesperson Captain Jason Rivarde. He said the technology was used as part of criminal investigations.
Rivarde said the thousands of “pings” often captured location data of the same cell phone number dozens of times per day before the technology was disabled in mid-2018 by Securus Technologies, one of the nation’s leading providers of phone and messaging services for correctional facilities.
The contracts with Securus and the Jefferson and Orleans Parish sheriff’s offices stated that the onus to collect the data legally fell on law enforcement. Despite language in the contracts that Securus makes “no representation or warranty as to the legality” of the technology’s use, neither law enforcement agency had written policies regarding collecting, managing, or storing cell phone location data without violating people’s privacy rights.
“With such powerful technology comes substantial government responsibility to build out safeguards, and it sounds like that didn’t happen here,” said Katie Schwartzmann, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Louisiana office.
The Orleans Parish sheriff’s office, whose primary function is running the city’s jail and providing courthouse security, had access to the technology from April to May of 2018, before Securus disabled it. Blake Arcuri, an attorney for the sheriff’s office, said the agency did not get a chance to use the technology before it was disabled and had no written policies about it. The sheriff’s office said its contract with Securus was amended in March 2018 to add the location data service because the agency “learned of the new feature and sought its inclusion in any subsequent agreement,” but it offered no further explanation.
The Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office retrieved cell phone location data through the Securus because it provided a shortcut to the data instead of going through the service providers of cell phone users, Rivarde said.
Continued at: https://theappeal.org/louisiana-she...z_4mwOlPF6GMydRpNOFJWgaKhi1wqRiCV3de4LRwSW5rU
Tech Company Gave 2 New Orleans-area Sheriff’s Offices Access
To Track Cell Phones Without Warrants
Neither agency had written policies on how to capture or store the location data without violating privacy rights.
To Track Cell Phones Without Warrants
Neither agency had written policies on how to capture or store the location data without violating privacy rights.
Emily Lane Oct 23, 2019
Two New Orleans-area sheriff’s offices contracted with a company that gave them access to location data of any cell phone the agencies sought to track.
From 2015 to mid-2018, the Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office—which has jurisdiction over Louisiana’s second-most populous parish and also runs its jail—captured more than 5,800 coordinates showing a cell phone’s location, said agency spokesperson Captain Jason Rivarde. He said the technology was used as part of criminal investigations.
Rivarde said the thousands of “pings” often captured location data of the same cell phone number dozens of times per day before the technology was disabled in mid-2018 by Securus Technologies, one of the nation’s leading providers of phone and messaging services for correctional facilities.
The contracts with Securus and the Jefferson and Orleans Parish sheriff’s offices stated that the onus to collect the data legally fell on law enforcement. Despite language in the contracts that Securus makes “no representation or warranty as to the legality” of the technology’s use, neither law enforcement agency had written policies regarding collecting, managing, or storing cell phone location data without violating people’s privacy rights.
“With such powerful technology comes substantial government responsibility to build out safeguards, and it sounds like that didn’t happen here,” said Katie Schwartzmann, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Louisiana office.
The Orleans Parish sheriff’s office, whose primary function is running the city’s jail and providing courthouse security, had access to the technology from April to May of 2018, before Securus disabled it. Blake Arcuri, an attorney for the sheriff’s office, said the agency did not get a chance to use the technology before it was disabled and had no written policies about it. The sheriff’s office said its contract with Securus was amended in March 2018 to add the location data service because the agency “learned of the new feature and sought its inclusion in any subsequent agreement,” but it offered no further explanation.
The Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office retrieved cell phone location data through the Securus because it provided a shortcut to the data instead of going through the service providers of cell phone users, Rivarde said.
Continued at: https://theappeal.org/louisiana-she...z_4mwOlPF6GMydRpNOFJWgaKhi1wqRiCV3de4LRwSW5rU
