TechDirt: Court Asked Why There’s No Expectation Of Privacy In Cell Location Data, But An Expectation Of Privacy In The Cellphone Itself

TechDirt: Court Asked Why There’s No Expectation Of Privacy In Cell Location Data, But An Expectation Of Privacy In The Cellphone Itself by Tim Cushing:

from the warrants-warranted dept

The government continues to argue that the Third Party Doctrine trumps the Fourth Amendment. Almost any “business record” created intentionally or inadvertently can be had by the government without a warrant. Even if the citizen in question has no ability to control what’s collected by third parties (without forgoing the service entirely) or is completely unaware that it’s happening, the government claims records of this type have no expectation of privacy.

The US v. Quartavarious Davis case is currently being re-heard by an en banc panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court. AT&T has uncharacteristically stepped into the breach and offered its opinion that — as a service provider that generates plenty of business records (including cell location data, the focal point of this case) — these records should be granted an expectation of privacy and a warrant requirement.

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