Phone-Y War: Digital Privacy
① In 2011, data beamed from Timothy Carpenter's mobile phone to cell towers helped authorities link him to a string of armed robberies.
② Today, America's Supreme Court will ask if that investigative technique violated the Fourth Amendment: "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects".
③ Mr Carpenter's lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union say individuals have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" when they wander about, and that spooks needed a warrant to obtain data showing his location.
④ The government contends that Mr Carpenter should have known that carrying a phone in his pocket makes him a traceable beacon.
⑤ The implications go well beyond one defendant.
⑥ The nine justices will decide to what extent the constitution serves as a bulwark against government access to an ever-expanding trove of personal data.
⑦ The details of minute-by-minute travel should, the ACLU argues, remain private, "as they always have been".
▍生词好句
phoney /ˈfəʊni/: adj. 虚假的
beam /biːm/: vt. 传送 (信号);微笑
authority /ɔːˈθɒrɪti/: n. 官方 (人员) (本文特指“美国联邦调查局”)
a string of: 一连串的
warrant /ˈwɒr(ə)nt/: n. 拘捕令;搜查令;vt. 担保;保证
spook /spuːk/: n. 密探;间谍
beacon /ˈbiːk(ə)n/: n. 灯塔;无线电信标
bulwark /ˈbʊlwək/: n. 保障
trove /trəʊv/: n. 储藏