By Kat Asharya | Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:39 am |
A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that judges have the right to require warrants before police can obtain mobile phone records that could pinpoint a customer's location.
The electronic privacy case concerned the government's interest in records that show a caller's location during past calls.
Judges in a Pittsburgh drug case had required federal agents to get a warrant for location data found in cell phone records, which could indicate usage patterns of a customer's typical location.
The government counter-argued that the 1986 Electronics Communications Privacy Act required only "reasonable grounds" to obtain data is relevant to a criminal investigation, not the higher probable cause standard needed for warrants. Lawyers from the Justice Department argued that warrants were not required to obtain "non-content" data.
But the 32-page opinion by Judge Dolores Sloviter in appeals court ruled that judges have the discretion to require warrants, and can demand more information from the government before deciding if a probable-cause warrant is needed.
However, the opinion stopped short of saying warrants are always needed to obtain cell phone records.
Tuesday's ruling allowing judges to require warrants for data in cell phone records is considered a victory for electronic privacy groups. But Senator Patrick Leahy, chief author of the 1986 law and Senate Judiciary Chairman, has vowed to revisit the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, calling electronic privacy laws "woefully outdated."
Even with a court ruling in favor of more electronic privacy, the issue remains fraught.
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