Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 15:09:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Matthew Belmonte <belmonte@cns.nyu.edu>
Message-Id: <199807171909.PAA22935@ts.cns.nyu.edu>
To: senator@dpm.senate.gov, senator_al@damato.senate.gov
Subject: Justice Department appropriations bill

Today's New York Times reports that FBI director Louis Freeh has asked the
Appropriations Committee to add language to the Justice Department
appropriations bill that would require telephone companies to provide police
agencies with the precise locations of cellular telephones.  This proposal
violates the spirit, and probably also the letter, of the Fourth Amendment's
guarantee of protection from unreasonable searches.  While it's true that
privacy concerns must be balanced against security concerns, such broad leeway
to track the movements of private citizens can be easily abused, and serious
criminals will be able to circumvent it by using other communications
devices, such as two-way radios.  I urge you to do whatever is possible to
oppose this amendment while the bill is in committee, and to vote against the
appropriations bill if it comes to the senate floor with Freeh's modifications
intact.