Cell hell

You want to know all about someone's cell phone usage, like who they called and for how long they talked? You don't need a warrant. You don't need FISA. You don't even have to be a law enforcement officer. You just need to click on a website like Locatecell.com, or one of several others, send them the cell phone number and a credit card number, and in 24 hours or less they'll send you a list of every call made from that cell phone. And it's all perfectly legal.

The FBI ran a test and, for $160 and no questions asked, they got a 30 day rundown of every call made from an agent's cell phone - in just 3 hours. The Chicago Sun Times did the same thing and got a reporter's cell phone records - for only $110. The reporter, Frank Main, says that a private detective told him that,

I would say the most powerful investigative tool right now is cell records. I use it a couple times a week. A few hundred bucks a week is well worth the money.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, doing something worthwhile for a change, is trying to get the practice criminalized.

In the meantime, the FBI has issued a warning to all its field offices that the cell phone records of agents and informants are exposed to anyone who wants to buy them. The Chicago Police Department has likewise warned its officers of the security threat.

Wow, this means that all I have to do is get the porcine racist Oliver Willis's cell phone number and I can determine how often he calls Michelle Malkin and Jeff Goldstein for advice for his blog.

Vis EPIC West via Topix.

TAGS: cell phone records, FBI, Locatecell.com, EPIC West, Topix.net