Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, Sprint reported that it provided location data to U.S. Cell towers track where your phone isat any moment so can the GPS features in some smartphones. Many cell phone carriers provide authorities with a phone's location and may charge a fee for doing so. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) - a 1986 law that underpins much of how the government can get digital data - requires providers to allow access to real-time data with a court order and historical data with a subpoena. Maryland, which found that the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure doesn't apply to a list of phone numbers. Police can get phone records without a warrant thanks to a 1979 Supreme Court case, Smith v. Instead, they can get a court to sign off on an order that only requires the data they're after is 'relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation'- a lesser standard of evidence.The government can also get historical phone records with an administrative subpoena, which doesn't require a judge's approval.

But police don't need a warrant - which requires showing 'probable cause' of a crime- to monitor the numbers for incoming and outgoing calls in real time, as well as the duration of the calls.

Listening to your phone calls without a judge's warrant is illegal if you're a U.S.

Request text message transcripts sprint