Court Rules Surveillance of Cell Phone Data Is Unconstitutional

A U.S. federal court has ruled that authorities cannot use cell phone location data in order to prosecute citizens, as it breaches their expectation to privacy.  A convicted armed robber, Quartavious Davis, was sentenced to nearly 162 years in prison, without the possibility of parole, several years ago. He is attempting to have his conviction overturned due to what he says is an unconstitutional use of his cell phone data by U.S. authorities. Engadget.com reports: The decision handed down by the judges today marks the first time that cell phone location data has been explicitly included as part of a reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. Part of the evidence levied against Davis and his accomplices was data from cellular providers showing they had made or received phone calls in the vicinity of the alleged targets around the time the robberies occurred. The problem is, no warrant was issued for this information, instead it was obtained via court order that doesn’t require probable cause, only “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the … records or other information sought, are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.” In short, we hold that cell site location information is within [...]