Supreme Court: Prosecutors Need Warrant For Phone Location Data

The US Supreme Court has ruled that officials must have a warrant to acquire a week or more of phone location data. Such information, particularly when mapped over a large period of time, has the potential to reveal sensitive details about someone, such as who they associate with, religious beliefs, and more. The ruling does not, however, require a warrant in all situations.

The ruling was made in the case of Timothy Ivory Carpenter v. United States, which argued against prosecutors who had acquired and used at trial four months' worth of phone location data. It was a narrow victory, with the voting coming in at 5-4 in favor of the warrant requirement. The full Supreme Court ruling can be found here.

Though a warrant is required for phone data covering a time period of at least a week, there are cases where it's not necessary. Those instances include data on less than a week, as well as information urgently needed to stop an anticipated act of violence or prevent someone from potentially destroying evidence.

The Court ultimately found:

We decline to grant the state unrestricted access to a wireless carrier's database of physical location information. In light of the deeply revealing nature of CSLI, its depth, breadth, and comprehensive reach, and the inescapable and automatic nature of its collection, the fact that such information is gathered by a third party does not make it any less deserving of Fourth Amendment protection. The Government's acquisition of the cell-site records here was a search under that Amendment.

This puts a hurdle up for prosecutors who acquire photo location data for a variety of cases, and who must now acquire a warrant before doing so. The ruling doesn't appear to prevent law enforcement officials from acquiring phone location data in real time, however. The Supreme Court has not issued any comments on its ruling.

SOURCE: Bloomberg