DC prosecutors are ramping up secret requests for location and internet history

New data released this week by the DC District Court shows a massive increase in sealed court orders demanding location or internet data, as first reported by The Washington Post. The number of orders increased seven times over during the last three years, reaching 1,136 orders in 2016.

The orders include requests for historical cell site information from carriers — essentially your cell provider’s records on the location of your phone — as well as broadband providers’ records of connections to the internet. That connection data can be used to deduce the time, date, and size of a given email or instant message, as well as the sender and recipient. The data would not include any communications content, like the recording of a call or the...

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