PogoWasRight.org

Menu
  • About
  • Privacy
Menu

The Vanishing Distinction Between Real-time and Historical Location Data

Posted on July 18, 2012July 2, 2025 by Dissent

Susan Freiwald writes:

A congressional inquiry, which recently revealed that cell phone carriers disclose a huge amount of subscriber information to the government, has increased the concern that Big Brother tracks our cell phones. The New York Times reported that, in 2011, carriers responded to 1.3 million law enforcement demands for cell phone subscriber information, including text messages and location information. Because each request can acquire information on multiple people, law enforcement agencies have clearly obtained such information about many more of us than could possibly be worthy of suspicion. Representative Markey, who spearheaded the inquiry, has followed up with a thorough letter to Attorney General Holder that asks how the Justice Department could possibly protect privacy and civil liberties while acquiring such a massive amount of information.

Among many important questions, Representative Markey’s letter asks whether the DOJ continues to legally differentiate between historical (those produced from carrier records) and real-time (those produced after an order is issued) cell site location information and what legal standard the DOJ meets for each (or both). Traditionally, courts have accorded less protection to historical location data, which I have criticized as a matter of Fourth Amendment law in my amicus briefs and in my scholarship. The government’s applications for historical data in the Fifth Circuit case, which is currently considering whether agents seeking historical location data must obtain a warrant, provide additional evidence that the distinction between real-time and historical location data makes no sense.

Read more on Concurring Opinions.

Related posts:

  • How the Federal Government Buys Our Cell Phone Location Data
Category: Surveillance

Post navigation

← Internet privacy is focus of Gansler as head of U.S. attorneys general
Europcar car rental fined €54,000 for illegally collecting personal data →

Now more than ever

Search

Contact Me

Email: info@pogowasright.org

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Searches of Your Private Data in the Cloud Amount to Illicit State Action
  • How a Tax Subpoena in Ohio Tests European Privacy Law
  • Cambodia moves to enact comprehensive data privacy law
  • White House ordered to restore Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood clinics
  • California Attorney General Announces $1.55M CCPA Settlement with Healthline.com
  • Canada’s Bill C-2 Opens the Floodgates to U.S. Surveillance
  • Wiretap Suits Pit Old Privacy Laws Against New AI Technology

RSS Recent Posts on DataBreaches.net

  • EU-wide Breach Notification Template on the Horizon
  • Sex toy maker Lovense caught leaking users’ email addresses and exposing accounts to takeovers
  • Hackers wipe out Rs 384 crore from Bengaluru cryptocurrency firm Neblio Technologies; firm says inside job
  • Intelligence cyberattack on Crimea. Documents confirming abduction of children from Ukraine found
  • Seminole County Schools recovers money taken by hackers
©2025 PogoWasRight.org. All rights reserved.
Menu
  • About
  • Privacy