Techdirt: The Exception Is The Rule: How The Government’s ‘Good Faith’ Efforts Are Destroying The Fourth Amendment

Techdirt: The Exception Is The Rule: How The Government’s ‘Good Faith’ Efforts Are Destroying The Fourth Amendment:

While there has been some progress towards a restoration of the nation’s Fourth Amendment rights, there have also been several steps back. A lot of this seems to be tied to a judicial reluctance to side with criminals. These Fourth Amendment issues generally boil down to law enforcement v. bad guys, usually delivered without nuance.

Earlier this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found that tracking suspects using phone location info required a warrant. This wasn’t a general ruling, however, and it was limited to several specifics in this case. The court found that cell phone location info carried an expectation of privacy despite also being a “business record” — something that is normally stripped of privacy expectations thanks to the Third Party Doctrine.