Congressman confronts law enforcement, DOJ over growing cell phone requests

08/11/12: The Hill reports that Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Thursday released a discussion draft of legislation that would limit such digital searches and seizures after investigations revealed a startling number of law enforcement requests for private cell phone data in recent years.  As co-chairman of the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, Markey’s inquiry with nine major wireless carriers revealed that law enforcement officials at all levels of government made 1.3 million requests for user data from the companies in 2011.  The responses also showed that the number of requests by law enforcement is increasing each year, in some cases by as much as 16 percent.  Markey’s proposed Wireless Surveillance Act of 2012 would require law enforcement to provide regular disclosure of information on the requests and to obtain search warrants prior to conducting geolocation tracking.