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The United State Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that a "probable cause" warrant is required before law enforcement can obtain cellular location records for an individual. Two thieves in Baltimore were identified when their locations were correlated with robberies near Baltimore. Their conviction will be allowed to stand, as law enforcement had a good-faith belief that the technique was permissible at the time, but future investigations will be subject to the ruling. The US 4th Circuit is a Federal court that handles appeals from the states of Maryland, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The ruling does not apply in other districts, which so far have ruled against the requirement, but could allow cases in other states to reach the Supreme Court.
Ars Technica coverage:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/08/warrant-required-for-mobile-phone-location-tracking-us-appeals-court-rules/
Link to the ruling, in PDF form:
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/124659.P.pdf
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @01:28PM
"... and allow law enforcement to use this location data to catch criminals"
and if criminals leave their phone at home then what will law enforcement do ?
Invading the privacy of the innocent only serves to undermine trust in government, some may be cynical about the concept of trusting a government, but it should be possible.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday August 06 2015, @04:18PM
Not to mention that the criminals (the smarter ones, anyway) will almost inevitably find some way around it or just stop using the phones.
Oh, what's that, you say? Now we're monitoring all the innocents and the reason for doing it doesn't even exist anymore?
"Whoops"
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"