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Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show.

Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time—without the benefit of a warrant. Federal prosecutors are seeking the locations of cell phone customers' via company records--sometimes in real time, sometimes after the fact.

A federal appeals court said Tuesday the government may obtain cell-site information that mobile phone carriers retain on their customers without a probable-cause warrant under the Fourth Amendment.

Appeals court rules law enforcement agencies don't need a warrant to "ping" and track prepaid cellphone locations.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/warrantless-gps-phone-tracking/
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/12a0262p-06.pdf

Daily News @ http://RevolutionNews.US - TomTom admits to sending your routes and speed information to the police...

It appears every gadget in your possession is tracking your location. First it was the iPhone, then Android phones and now it's your bleedin' sat-nav. TomTom, perhaps in a pre-emptive strike against its own user-tracking scandal, has admitted its sat-navs can track users and inform third parties about how fast they're going.

legislation that would give authorities the ability to identify the owners of pre-paid cellphones, which they say is long overdue "because for years, terrorists, drug kingpins and gang members have stayed one step ahead of the law by using prepaid phones that are hard to trace." That new tracking ability would also consequently place some new requirements on cellphone carriers and people buying the phones -- specifically, anyone buying a pre-paid cellphone would be required to present identification before buying a phone

Daily News @ http://RevolutionNews.US - ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

TheNewspaper

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

Federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans in real-time using credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations without getting court orders for the "hotwatch."

Supreme Court Rules In GPS Tracking Device Case

Nightclub owner's conviction overturned due to illegal tracking

Last year, 20-year-old Yasir Afifi found this GPS tracker on his car while undergoing a routine oil change (imgur via khaledthegypsy, Reddit).
Washington DC police thought they had a good idea when they attached a global-positioning-system (GPS) device on the car of a suspected drug dealer in order to more effectively tail him and find his "safe house" stash.