Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment news--CA3 to hear argument on accessing cell phone location data

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The Third Circuit hears oral argument this week in a significant privacy case involving cell phone tracking data: Case offers rare glimpse into the mechanics of federal criminal investigations where nearly all documents are filed ex parte and stay under seal until indictments are handed up by Shannon P. Duffy in The Legal Intelligencer (February 8, 2010). As the article notes, this is the first federal appeals court to take on this issue: In a case that could prove to be one of the most important privacy rights battles of the modern era, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear argument this week on the proper legal standard to apply when prosecutors demand cell phone location data. The data, which are recorded about once every seven seconds whenever a cell phone is turned on, effectively track the whereabouts and the comings and goings of every cell phone user...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 06, 2010 (boomark / email).