Police Reportedly Asking Google for All Mobile Device Data Near Certain Crime Scenes
Law enforcement authorities in Raleigh, North Carolina are reportedly relying on search giant Google to keep tabs on mobile devices in and around crime scenes. Court records revealed that the local police department has issued warrants to Google for mobile location data, which have resulted in at least one arrest.
It was a rather innovative idea that Raleigh police came up with in March 2017, one that involved having Google fork over the mobile location data they have been keeping track of to solve criminal cases, according to WRAL.
Police detectives would draw virtual cordons on a satellite image of the crime scenes, taking note of the coordinates that the net passes through. A Wake County judge is then persuaded to issue a warrant for Google to give them all the mobile device identifiers that have entered into or left the digital cordons in a certain span of time.
One warrant would call for Google to hand over "Google accounts located within the geographical region defined as being within 150 meters of the GPS coordinates" in a set time period, a request that covers any account for any Google user that wanders in the area during that span of time, as The Verge noted.
"At the end of the day, this tactic unavoidably risks getting information about totally innocent people," Nathan Wessler, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, explained the possible over-reach that this tactic may entail.
"Location information is really revealing and private about people's habits and activities and what they're doing," he added. Although Google has been handing over anonymized data, the information was detailed enough to include location coordinated and timestamps, and once the police narrowed their list down enough, they were able to ask for information like names and birthdates, as well.
