The US Supreme Court has limited the use of geofence warrants by law enforcement, ruling that individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cell-phone location information. In a 6-3 decision, the court stated that authorities must obtain a search warrant when requesting location data from tech companies like Google.
Geofence warrants allow police to demand information about users' locations at a specific time and place. Critics argued that these warrants are unconstitutional as they include innocent people's data. The court's decision applies to location data collected by companies like Google from users' cellphones, and rules that the 4th Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The ruling centers on the case of Chatrie v. United States, where the defendant accused the government of using evidence collected by an unconstitutional search warrant. The decision may have broad ramifications for privacy rights and law enforcement across the US.
