If you ever had any doubts about the legality of cell phone pinging and caller ID spoofing, the matter has been settled. Recently the FCC has re-asserted that both practices, once common in skip tracing and investigations, are something they not only frown on but will most likely take action on. In an July 2015 declaration the agency hardened its position on these non-compliant practices. From Page 111 of the declaration: "Finally, I want to note that we have more work to do. Just last week, … [Read more...]
Cell Phone Pinging – Cell Phone Privacy and Applicable laws
As you’ve seen in previous blog posts, cell phone location information, a.k.a. cell phone pinging, has a protected status under the law. Let's talk about privacy, look at the laws we referenced, and why. Privacy is Important so Cell Phone Pinging is Regulated Most of us wouldn’t make our whereabouts known to anyone, including strangers, unwillingly. Why would we? In the crudest example, this would allow anyone to track our children’s whereabouts. Cases about intrusions on privacy are in the … [Read more...]
Locating a Cell Phone with a Cell Phone Ping: Does it Fall Under Compliance?
In our previous post, we took a look at an overview of cell phone pinging and why locating a cell phone, by a cell phone ping, without consent isn’t compliant. There are ways that you can obtain location information that are fully compliant. We’re not referring to the exceptions for emergencies and law enforcement—but rather to service providers who do have permission to access carrier information. The legislation surrounding the consumer’s cell phone location information all hinges on … [Read more...]
Cell Phone Pinging for Locating a Cell Phone: What is Non-Compliance?
Our earlier blog post provided an overview of what a cell phone ping is and why the practice of cell phone pinging is illegal in all but some very specific circumstances. This post discusses some of the compliance issues related to cell phone pinging. There are some dry legal citations throughout, but they are important to understanding what the law defines as compliance, and non-compliance. To get a cell phone location you need customer permission. Locating a cell phone without the the … [Read more...]
A Cell Phone Ping: What’s The Law and What’s The Lie?
Some folks out there on the ‘net, and in some of the forums that you read, offer to provide a cell phone pinging service. There’s several discussions on cell phone pinging services. Belles Camp is an approved location information developer by all the carriers. We have clear distinctions about cell phone location information, a.k.a. cell phone ping. So we thought we’d write about this topic to give you the facts. What is a Cell Phone Ping A cell phone ping is when a signal is sent to a cell … [Read more...]