'Geofence warrant' unconstitutional, judge rules in Virginia

Source: Associated Press

‘Geofence warrant’ unconstitutional, judge rules in Virginia

By DENISE LAVOIE
March 30, 2022

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A warrant that used Google location history to find people near the scene of a 2019 bank robbery violated their constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision — believed to be the first of its kind — could make it more difficult for police to continue using an investigative technique that has exploded in popularity in recent years, privacy experts say.

The ruling came earlier this month in a closely watched Virginia case in which the robbery suspect argued that the use of a “geofence warrant” violated the Fourth Amendment. Geofence warrants seek location data on every person within a specific location over a certain period of time. To work, those people must be using cellphones or other electronic devices that have the location history feature enabled.

U.S. District Judge Hannah Lauck found that the warrant violated the constitution by gathering the location history of people near the bank without having any evidence that they had anything to do with the robbery.

“The warrant simply did not include any facts to establish probable cause to collect such broad and intrusive data from each of these individuals,” Lauck wrote in her ruling.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/virginia-robbery-d20d767fa1ef52a8b69e76adb8626837


FILE - This aerial drone photo shows the Call Federal Credit Union building, front, Tuesday June 16, 2020, in Midlothian, Va. A warrant that used Google location history to find people near the scene of a 2019 bank robbery violated their constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, a judge has ruled. The decision could make it more difficult for police to use the popular investigative technique, privacy experts say.(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)