Declan McCullagh on how the U.S. government is again skirting our own laws and crossing the line of individual privacy:

But the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have seized on the ability to locate a cellular customer and are using it to track Americans' whereabouts surreptitiously--even when there's no evidence of wrongdoing.

...

This is an unfortunate outcome, not least because it shows that some judges are reluctant to hold federal agents and prosecutors to the letter of the law.

It's also unfortunate because it demonstrates that the FBI swore never to use a 1994 surveillance law to track cellular phones--but then, secretly, went ahead and did it, anyway.

Link to the CNet article.

Update: 3.2.2006: The Justice Department's surveillance requests were denied in both cases (News.com, Declan McCullagh)