Thought this was worth sharing as an example of the law "catching up" to technological advancements in policing. I'm not actually sure what impact this will have on the use of geofence warrants....
The US supreme court has ruled that law enforcement’s use of sprawling warrants that sweep up smartphone location data requires privacy protections under the fourth amendment, in a boost to critics who view their use as an unconstitutional dragnet.
Thought this was worth sharing as an example of the law "catching up" to technological advancements in policing.
This does bring up an interesting question about other types of "reverse warrants". Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) have exploded in use, most famously by Flock, and similarly provide an opportunity generate suspects by casting a wide net over data that many people would assume is private.
Thought this was worth sharing as an example of the law "catching up" to technological advancements in policing.
I'm not actually sure what impact this will have on the use of geofence warrants. Google announced in late-2023 that they would be moving location data on device, restricting their access to the data they'd need to respond to the warrant. This matched Apple's status quo, who could not access the data to respond to the warrant. Forbes reported that the practice is essentially dead already.
This does bring up an interesting question about other types of "reverse warrants". Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) have exploded in use, most famously by Flock, and similarly provide an opportunity generate suspects by casting a wide net over data that many people would assume is private.