Via the ACLU, Letter from Senator Al Franken Chairman, Subcommittee on Privacy,
Technology and the Law to Attorney General Holder on May 10, 2012, which reads in part: “I was very concerned to read recent reports suggesting that state and local law enforcement agencies may be working around the protections of United States v. Jones by requesting the location records of individuals directly from their wireless carriers instead of tracking the individuals through stand-alone GPS devices installed on their vehicles. I was further concerned to learn that in many cases, these agencies appear to be obtaining precise records of individuals’ past and current movements from carriers without first obtaining a warrant for this information. I think that these actions may violate the spirit if not the letter of the Jones decision. I am writing to ask you about the Department of Justice’s own practices in requesting location information from wireless carriers. I am eager to learn about how frequently the Department requests location information and what legal standard the Department believes it must meet to obtain it. I would also like to know how the Department may have changed these practices since the Jones decision.”