Police Can Track Your Cell Phone For Insanely Low Prices

The bargain bin prices of hacking.

Image via

You’d be naïve to think that your smartphone is impregnable to authorities. What might surprise you, however, is how easy and cheap it is for police to break in.

Yesterday, private researchers published an article in the Yale Law Journal that breaks down the cost of police surveillance, and highlights the differences between old-fashioned technology and today’s cutting-edge prying, such as cell phone tracking. It can cost as little as $0.04 an hour to track a person's cell phone, and the price dips the longer they track someone.

This has rekindled the debate over the constitutionality of cell phone tracking, specifically U.S. vs Jones ruling that declared warrantless GPS car tracking a breach of privacy and in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

We know the NSA is already tracking everything you do and warrantless cell phone tracking is completely legal as well, but for right now, cops can track suspects for literally pennies on the dollar.

Do you think that’s fair? Let us know below.

[via Gizmodo]

Latest in Pop Culture