A new Supreme Court ruling will require police to have probable cause before using sweeping geofence warrants that rely on people’s personal location data to find criminals.
The Supreme Court rules against the use of geofence warrants
The Supreme Court rules against the use of geofence warrants
Police subpoena Apple, Google, and other tech companies for precious user location data using so-called “geofence warrants,” which can serve as a dragnet to catch a single criminal while implicating many others. The Supreme Court says this method is no longer an option without probable cause.
According to SCOTUSblog, breaking down the ruling, a geofence warrant meets the criteria of a “search” as defined by the Fourth Amendment. Simply put, this means that anyone included in a warrant must be there with a reason.