Cell phone users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’ – judge

A federal judge recently ruled that if someone has their cell phone turned on, their location data does not deserve protection under the Fourth Amendment, meaning law enforcement can track individuals without a search warrant.dsDF34fcd

New York magistrate judge Gary Brown decided in favor of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who were seeking his approval over a warrant on a doctor who they suspected was being paid for issuing thousands of prescriptions. The warrant would have compelled the physician’s Latest Smartphones company to provide real-time tracking data from his cell.

Brown, certainly to the delight of police, issued a 30-page brief outlining his opinion that, by carrying a cell phone, someone is essentially waiving their Fourth Amendment right to due process.

“Given the ubiquity and celebrity of geolocation technologies, an individual has no legitimate expectation of privacy in the prospective of a cellular telephone where that individual has failed to protect his privacy by taking the simple expedient of powering it off,” Brown wrote.

“As to control by the user, all of the known tracking technologies may be defeated by merely turning off the phone. Indeed – excluding apathy or inattention – the only reason that users leave cell phones turned on is so that the device can be located to receive calls. Conversely, individuals who do not want to be disturbed by unwanted telephone calls at a particular time or place simply turn their Buy Cell Phones off, knowing that they cannot be located.”

He goes on to suggest that because there are smartphone applications available that allow users to locate people in their area with similar interests, cell phone customers should not expect their inherent right to privacy to be observed.

“Given the notoriety surrounding the disclosure of geolocation data to retailers purveying soap powder and blue jeans to mall shoppers, the police searching for David Pogue’s iPhone and, most alarmingly, the creators and users of the Girls Around You app, cell phone users cannot realistically entertain the notion that such information would (or should) be withheld from federal law enforcement agents searching for a fugitive.”

Exactly how common this practice is throughout the law enforcement community is unclear but it has widely been reported that a Michigan police force tried to gain information about every single discount cell phones within the proximity of a labor protest.

LG Working On New Tablet?

Like rival smartphone-maker HTC, it looks like LG may be looking at renewing its 7 inch tablet efforts with a forthcoming tablet that could debut as early as the third quarter of this year. At this point, there’s still not a lot of information known about LG’s tablet effort or which operating system that tablet will run. The company had relied on Google’s Android OS in the past to power its Optimus Pad series slates, but LG could potentially base its new tablet endeavors on new operating systems, such as Windows 8 or Windows RT from Microsoft.

A move into the Windows RT space could potentially make LG a competitor with HTC, the latter of which is rumored to be working on two tablets with Microsoft’s Windows RT OS. Samsung had said in the past that Windows RT was confusing and it would not release a tablet in the U.S. market with Windows RT on board; instead Samsung had chosen Windows 8 and Android for its discount cell phones endeavors.

Another smartphone-maker without a tablet in its portfolio is Nokia, which is also rumored to be working with Microsoft on either a Windows 8 or Windows RT slate.

However, LG’s ties to Google are still pretty strong, and an Android offering may still be in the cards. LG was rumored to be courting Google to help it in the TV space and the two has enjoyed a successful Nexus 4 launch, a smartphone that’s branded by Google but made by LG and shares a similar chassis and design to the LG Optimus G flagship. As such, a new tablets running Android may help further the relationship between LG and Google.

"We see different kinds of successful experiences on each platform. Great content creators create content natively for that platform," he says, while noting that Zynga wants to take its most popular games across as many platforms as possible, and citing Words With Friends' journey from smartphones to tablets and then Facebook as an example.D1dS343D

Is Zynga thinking tablet-first in 2013, though? Finnish startup Supercell did in 2012, and its Clash of Clans and Hay Day games generated $179m of revenues for the company in the first quarter of 2013 alone. Is that nudging Zynga towards a similar tablet-first strategy, at least for some games?

"There are great games that new android tablet started on Facebook like Zynga Poker, which later extended to mobile phones and to tablets," Boatman says. "And there are games that we are building that are focused on tablets first, and if they're very successful there, we may extend them to Facebook and mobile."

when this GT-I9300 phone isn't actually using the data service

Since AT&T won't unlock your new Galaxy S4 unless you pay full price for it, what should you do? First of all, I don't think it's worth it to buy the Galaxy S4 at full price just so you can use it abroad with a foreign SIM. My advice is before you upgrade to the GT-I9300 , get your old smartphone unlocked. If you are out of contract, which it sounds like you are, and you're a customer in good standing with AT&T, this should not be a problem. I'd use the older, unlocked smartphone while in Spain instead of the new GT-I9300 . This way you can put a Spanish SIM card in your unlocked phone and you'll save yourself some more money. If you still want to buy the Galaxy S4 before you leave, go ahead. You can always put the device on airplane mode and use all the Internet-enabled features and apps when you are in a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Almost three years ago, I bought an iPhone 3GS with a new two-year contract from AT&T. It came with a $30 unlimited data plan. My two-year agreement ended in June of 2012. I bought the new I9300TV in October and kept my old unlimited data plan.sdDS12Dsa

I gave my old iPhone to a family member, and I added her to my plan for an additional $9.99 per month. She just put her old SIM card from her flip phone into my old iPhone. She still only uses her phone for voice calls and text messaging. She does not use any data, unless she is in a Wi-Fi hot spot.

For over a year, AT&T didn't charge me for data on the iPhone 3GS, because that line didn't use data. But then a few months ago AT&T charged an extra $30 on my monthly bill. I contacted customer support, and I told them that the discount cell phones doesn't use data. They refunded my $30.

A month later, the same thing happened again. I contacted customer support, explained the situation, and they refunded me my $30. But this time the representative said that was the last refund for me. And she said that AT&T would start charging me for data every month even though this iPhone 3GS doesn't actually access any data.

My question to you is, why is GT-I9300 able to charge me for this data when this phone isn't actually using the data service? It doesn't seem fair to me.A wireless carrier might argue that it's only fair to ask all smartphone customers to chip in the full price of a data plan since it costs billions of dollars to build these networks. Operators may also argue that it only makes sense to force subscribers to sign up for a data plan if they have a smartphone, because the phone is designed to do much more than make phone calls and send text messages. But the reality is that for frugal consumers, using a hand-me-down device and accessing the Internet only when in a Wi-Fi hot spot is a much more affordable way to use a smartphone.

This approach doesn't offer ubiquitous access, but for some people, it works just fine. It sounds like that's the case for your relative who inherited your I5 MTK6577. If you are interested in a less expensive option and your family member only wants to use data in a Wi-Fi hot spot, you may want to check out some prepaid options that offer this type of service or can at least offer you a less expensive monthly plan.

Republic Wireless may be a service to consider. It has a $19-a-month plan that offers unlimited talk, text, and data. The GT-I9300 company actually uses Wi-Fi networks throughout its coverage area to offer the data service. The only downside for you is that your relative would have to buy a new phone. And right now, the handset choices are very limited.