The vast majority of us have smart phones. And these phones can tell anyone with access to the phone company where we are at any given time, what numbers we call, and even the contents of our text messages. But, how much of this information is available to the police when they are investigating a crime?
According to a report in the Washington Post, the answer to that question isn’t clear.
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police must have a warrant to put a GPS tracking device on a vehicle. More recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 6th District ruled that the police didn’t need a warrant to track a suspected drug runner using his cellphone tower signals to locate him.
Already, this latter case has been cited in a similar Arizona case as a prosecutor defended police’s actions of using warrantless search of cellphone data to find someone accused of tax fraud. This indicates just how far-reaching a ruling by the Court of Appeals can be and has civil libertarians seriously concerned.
We’re looking at the very frightening prospect of an excessive degree of government intrusiveness in our personal lives,” said Gerald L. Gulley Jr., the defense attorney in the 6th District case. “I don’t think that people who go out and buy cellphones necessarily contemplated .?.?. the degree of intrusion in their personal life.”
The latest case out of the 6th District certainly went further than the Supreme Court ruling. In it, judges noted that prior cases allowed for police to access information that was already available in the public domain. In other words, because I could potentially see you traveling down 5th street at 5 p.m., the police could similarly get your GPS information to learn this—it wouldn’t be overreaching into your private life any more than simply watching you move in this direction.
“We have two vague opinions and a lot of concern,” said George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr. “At some point in the next 10 years, the Supreme Court is probably going to have to figure out how it feels about cellphone location information.”
In the meantime, the U.S. Justice Department has cautioned law enforcement to get a warrant whenever possible. Though it may not be necessary, it would definitely be prudent in the likelihood that warrantless GPS searches are eventually challenged and ruled unconstitutional.
If you have been pursued by the police and targeted in an investigation, it can seem that some of your rights and certainly your privacy has gone out the window. However, whether you are accused of a drug offense or trafficking weapons, you still have rights. Contact our offices to be put in contact with a local defense attorney who may be able to help you with your case.
About David Matson