Big Win for Freedom:

Federal Appeals Court Finds Geofence Warrants Are “Categorically” Unconstitutional 

Up to one third of all inquires to Google are for user geolocation data.  This is where law enforcement asks for the data on all phone users in a given geographic area, because they want to know who might have done a crime.  The issue with this is that it violates the fourth amendment, as they are getting a huge amount of other data on other people, completely unrelated to the crime.

This is the exact type of stuff we advocate avoiding with Simplified Privacy’s educational materials on DeGoogled Phones, WiFi hotspots, and VoIP.  However, it appears we are not the only ones against the practice.  In the Fifth Circuit case of the United States v. Smith, the Federal Court ruled that geofence warrants, which involve blanket requests for all user data in a given geographic area, are unconstitutional and violate the 4th amendment.

Now will this stop the practice?  Maybe, but I wouldn’t cancel your VoIP subscription yet.