We com
mend to your reading this interesting article by journalist, Liz Brody.
https://onezero.medium.com/googles-geofence-warrants-face-a-major-legal-challenge-ac6da1408fba
In this article, Ms. Brody highlights the increased used by law enforcement of geofence warrants. A geofence warrant requires a company, such as Google, to provide information regarding any Google-associated account located in a specific graphical area and timeframe. Ms. Brody illustrates the use by law enforcement of this intrusive investigative tool used in an pending bank robbery case in Virginia. Using a quote from a motion to suppress filed in that case, Ms. Brody crystallizes the privacy implications to innocent citizens whose devices are in use in the timeframe and location descr
ibed in a geofence warrant. “’Geofence warrants like the one in this case are incapable of satisfying the probable cause and particularity requirements, making them unconstitutional general warrants,’ the lawyers argued in a motion to suppress evidence. The brief goes on to describe them as ‘the digital equivalent of searching bags of every person walking along Broadway because of a theft in Times Square.’”
The motion to suppress can be found here: https://www.nacdl.org/getattachment/a16a7368-3691-4b32-b479-ad8128c53016/5f0ba578-cfe1-4fb9-9e76-5d40778f3f40.pdf (Our never-ending gratitude to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for allowing access to important legal briefs such as this one and for their tireless efforts to protect our constitutional rights and the support they give to criminal defense practitioners).
