Fifth Circuit Cell Phone Tracking Case
EFF joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation and the ACLU Foundation of Texas in backing a judge who required a search warrant before approving the seizure of two months of cell phone location data by law enforcement. In this case, the government asked a magistrate judge to approve a request to two cell phone companies for 60 days of cell phone location records as part of a routine law enforcement investigation. The judge denied the request, saying it was necessary for the government to get a warrant based on probable cause before it could obtain the records. In an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, EFF argues that the judge was correct, as getting a warrant is essential to ensuring Fourth Amendment protections.
The case was argued to the Fifth Circuit in October 2, 2012 in New Orleans. In July 2013, the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower court in a 2-1 decision, ruling that law enforcement didn't need a search warrant to access historical cell site records.
Updates
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As the highest court in Massachusetts considers whether cell-site data is private in the context of the Fourth Amendment, we filed an amicus brief arguing that when the police want to be able to recreate your every step—figuring out your patterns of movement, where you've been and with...
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A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week will make it easier for police to track your movements through your cell phone after the court decided police aren't required to obtain a search warrant to track you.
The case involved a 2010 law enforcement request to obtain...
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We've all heard a lot in the last month about the government's flimsy excuse for the NSA's massive collection of telephone and Internet metadata: that this sensitive information is somehow just "business records" that don't require a warrant for government access. That same argument has been used by the government...
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As the year draws to a close, EFF is looking back at the major trends influencing digital rights in 2012 and discussing where we are in the fight for free expression, innovation, fair use, and privacy. Click here to read other blog posts in this series.
EFF has...
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New Orleans - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal appeals court Tuesday to recognize cell phone users' privacy rights and require that the government obtain a warrant before collecting cell phone location information. The oral argument is set for 9 a.m. on October 2nd in New Orleans.
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