Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Feds Order Google To Hand Over Innocent Americans' Locations

posted by chromas on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the all-suspects-are-guilty dept.

DannyB writes:

Feds Order Google To Hand Over A Load Of Innocent Americans' Locations

Here's how it works: cops send Google specific coordinates and timezones within which crimes were committed. Then Google is asked to provide information on all users within those locations at those times, most likely including data on many innocent people. Those users could be Android phone owners, anyone running Google Maps or any individual running Google services on their cell, not just criminal suspects.

[...] "This fishing expedition infringes on the privacy rights of so many possible people who had the misfortune of being in an area where a crime is alleged to be committed," said Jerome Greco, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society. "We should not allow for such broad access to the data of so many on the mere speculation that a suspect may have used a cellphone near the location of the crime."

[...] Not just Google

Captain John Sherwin of the Rochester Police Department in Minnesota said it wasn't just Google that could furnish cops with a startling mount of detailed location data. Facebook and Snapchat were two others who'd proven useful, he said.

Should we be concerned that government tracks people by their cell phones instead of using mandatory brain implants?

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Feds Order Google To Hand Over Innocent Americans' Locations | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 50 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 25 2018, @02:22AM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 25 2018, @02:22AM (#753476) Journal

    That is an invalid construct of the English language, which is politically incorrect. There are no innocent Americans. You have just failed Literature 101. Better luck next semester - if the thought police haven't taken you to a reeducation camp before then.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Funny=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   3  

  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:57PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:57PM (#753649)
    Not true. If you identify as a member of an oppressed class, you're automatically innocent. Of everything. Forever. Or so we're taught in Literature 201.