ABAJ: North Carolina police issue broad warrants for data from Google users near crime scenes

ABAJ: North Carolina police issue broad warrants for data from Google users near crime scenes by Jason Tashea:

Police in North Carolina are using search warrants to collect cellphone location data of individuals near a crime scene.

NBC affiliate WRAL reported that the Raleigh police department used so-called reverse warrants four times last year to demand data from Google regarding user accounts in close proximity to the location of crime. Lacking specificity, these warrants do not identify a suspect.

“We are willingly sharing an awful lot of our lives with Google,” Jonathan Jones, a former prosecutor and director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition at Elon University told WRAL. “But do people understand that in sharing that information with Google, they’re also potentially sharing it with law enforcement?”
The warrants pertain to people with Google accounts, which includes those with an Android operating system on their phone or Google apps like Gmail.

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