{"id":77298,"date":"2024-08-14T12:41:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T18:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/?p=77298"},"modified":"2024-08-14T12:43:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T18:43:15","slug":"the-surveillance-state-court-rules-geofence-warrants-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/14\/the-surveillance-state-court-rules-geofence-warrants-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surveillance State: Court Rules Geofence Warrants Unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Court Rules Geofence Warrants Unconstitutional<\/a><\/h1>\n

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Geofence warrants violate the Fourth Amendment, according to a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.<\/h2>\n

U.S. Circuit Judge Carolyn Dineen King\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in the decision that \u201cgeofence warrants are modern-day general warrants and are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cOf particular concern is the fact that a geofence will retroactively track anyone with location history enabled, regardless of whether a particular individual is suspicious or moving within an area that is typically granted Fourth Amendment protection,\u201d King added.<\/h2>\n

Geofence warrants allow authorities to obtain a list of phones and phone owners who were present near a crime scene.<\/h2>\n

According to the\u00a0National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers<\/a>, geofence warrants are a \u201ctype of reverse warrant where the government seeks to know who was within a \u2018geofence,\u2019 a defined physical area during a specific period of time.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Some have voiced concerns that geofence warrants violate digital privacy, while others assert the practice is constitutional as internet users agree to share their location history with Google.<\/h2>\n

Describing users\u2019 consent to opt in to location data sharing, King wrote, \u201cUsers are bombarded multiple times with requests to opt in across multiple apps,\u201d explaining, \u201cThese requests typically innocuously promise app optimization, rather than reveal the fact that users\u2019 locations will be comprehensively stored in a \u2018Sensorvault,\u2019 providing Google the means to access this data and share it with the government. Even Google\u2019s own employees have indicated that deactivating Location History data based on Google\u2019s \u2018limited and partially hidden\u2019 warnings is \u2018difficult enough that people won\u2019t figure it out.\u2019\u201d<\/h2>\n

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