PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Judges have the right to require warrants before police get cell phone records that could suggest a customer's likely location, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a novel electronic privacy case. The Pennsylvania case involves the government's interest in records that show a caller's location during past calls. Cell phone tower records can pinpoint a user's location to within several hundred feet.
Judges in a Pittsburgh drug case had insisted that federal agents get a warrant for the data. The usage patterns could show when a phone customer is typically home, at work or at some other location, they said.
The government appealed, arguing that the 1986 Electronics Communications Privacy Act required only "reasonable grounds" the data is relevant to a criminal investigation, not the higher probable cause standard needed for warrants.
Tuesday's ruling was a victory for electronic privacy groups.
"My concern is, doesn't the weaker standard permit fishing expeditions?" said Susan Freiwald, a University of San Francisco law professor specializing in cyberspace law.
However, the court stopped short of saying warrants are always needed for the cell phone company data.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chief author of the 1986 law, has pledged to revisit the subject, calling electronic privacy laws "woefully outdated."
The 32-page opinion by Judge Dolores Sloviter suggests judges have the discretion, and can demand more information from the government before deciding if a probable-cause warrant is needed.
The panel ordered the Pittsburgh magistrate to do more fact-finding "and give a full explanation that balances the government's need (not merely desire) for the information with the privacy interests of cell phone users."
U.S. Magistrate Lisa Pupo Lenihan had demanded a probable-cause showing for the data in 2008, calling the information "extraordinarily personal and potentially sensitive."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union sided with her in opposing the government's appeal.
Poster Comment:
Thank you Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. You are on the right side of this one.
