AP Explains: How a phone may have steered hunt for bomber
SAN FRANCISCO — Most people who own a smartphone take it wherever they go, a fact of modern life that enabled authorities to hunt down the man suspected in five Texas bombings before he blew himself up Wednesday.
The search for the suspect, identified as Mark Anthony Conditt, drew upon technology that connects mobile phones to cellular towers and transmits the device’s location. It’s similar to the same way that an app installed on your phone can know where you are and, in some cases, even learn more about your favourite places to shop, buy coffee or just hang out.
But some of the methods law enforcement officials have used to track people’s location through their phones have raised legal issues, even when the target is suspected of committing heinous crimes like Conditt is. That’s because their location-tracking techniques cast a wide net that also can capture personal information about innocent bystanders.
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