Just because you consented to Google or Apple accessing your phone data, such as location history, does that mean the government can access it too? According to a new ruling, it seems the US Supreme Court doesn’t think so. The court found that the information your mobile devices track must remain private to you, regardless of whether you share it with tech companies.
today, The Supreme Court has decided 6 to 3 inches Chatrie v. United States of Americagiven that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy from the government. Specifically, the decision extends Fourth Amendment protections to information people hand over to technology companies. In short, the ruling means the police will need a warrant to obtain the information you share with these companies.
Chatrie v. United States of America covers a 2019 bank robbery in which police used a geofence warrant to locate all devices near the crime scene. This resulted in the arrest of Okello Chatri. At the heart of the case, privacy advocates say, broad warrants like these violate the Fourth Amendment because they are not narrowly drafted and can allow officers to access and collect information from innocent people.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, wrote:
An individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in cell phone location records, and police intrude on a constitutionally protected interest when they request information for a limited time and from a third-party technology company.
The three dissenters included Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas. Writing for the minority, Justice Alito wrote:
Indeed, by refusing to consider a question that might, at least in theory, give Chatri hope of relief, the Court carefully laid the groundwork for its planned performance: posing as a grand champion of privacy in the digital age. I cannot support this irresponsible running.
The case now goes to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. It will decide whether or not to include geofencing Chatrie v. United States of America properly designed.
