Why the Supreme Court's Chatrie case could change the meaning of privacy in America
Lawyer Adam Unikowsky spoke with Recorded Future News about why he believes geofence searches are problematic and why the way the court rules could have a dramatic impact on Americans’ right to privacy.
The Supreme Court is currently weighing a case that could reshape how law enforcement works with technology firms to identify potential suspects. In the next few weeks, the court is expected to rule on whether or not so-called geofence warrants are legal under the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets requirements for issuing warrants.
Lawyer Adam Unikowsky argued the case last month on behalf of petitioner Okello Chatrie, who was charged with robbery after law enforcement obtained a geofence warrant directed at Google. Under such warrants, tech companies are asked to give law enforcement the location history of people in a certain area so they can identify unknown suspects, and Google has said it has been served with geofence warrants covering exceptionally large areas across multiple days.
The case is the first involving digital privacy to hit the Supreme Court since 2018 and could have major implications for other types of police tools that involve large amounts of data. Unikowsky spoke with Recorded Future News about why he believes geofence searches are problematic, how people do not understand what they are consenting to and why the way the court rules could have a dramatic impact on Americans’ right to privacy.
Source: https://therecord.media/why-supreme-court-chatrie-case-could-reshape-privacy
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