US Scrutiny of Government Access to Commercial and Platform Location Data
US policymakers and courts are intensifying scrutiny of how law enforcement and federal agencies obtain and use location data, amid concerns that current practices can sweep in sensitive information about large numbers of people without adequate safeguards. More than 70 House and Senate Democrats urged DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari to investigate ICE for allegedly resuming warrantless purchases of Americans’ location data, including how the data is used, whether employee access is audited, and whether data governance controls exist. Lawmakers cited prior DHS OIG findings that CBP, the Secret Service, and ICE violated federal law by purchasing/using location data without warrants and lacked required privacy safeguards; the OIG previously recommended ICE halt use of commercial telemetry data until privacy assessments and compliance controls were implemented.
In parallel, the US Supreme Court is poised to address the constitutionality of geofence (“reverse search”) warrants, with Google filing an amicus brief arguing the warrants are unconstitutional because they can identify all devices in a defined area/time window, capturing many non-suspects’ location data. Google noted it began storing Location History on-device in July 2025, limiting its ability to respond to geofence warrants going forward, but said the Court’s ruling could still affect other providers and historical requests; Google also reported objecting to 3,000+ geofence warrants in recent months. The case discussed involves Okello Chatrie, identified after police sought Google data placing devices near a 2019 bank robbery, and raises questions about the third-party doctrine and whether cloud-stored location data retains constitutional protections.
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US Courts Scrutinize Law Enforcement Access to Digital Data via Device Searches and Geofence Warrants
A federal judge ordered the FBI to pause searching devices seized from *Washington Post* reporter Ellen Nakashima Natanson while the court considers claims that reviewing the contents would violate **First Amendment** protections for journalists and **attorney-client privilege**. The Post said the government refused to voluntarily refrain from reviewing the seized items pending judicial resolution, and argued the devices contain extensive journalistic work product, including tens of thousands of emails, interview recordings, story drafts, and encrypted **Signal** communications with more than 1,100 sources. Separately, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging whether **geofence warrants**—orders compelling companies (often Google) to provide location data for devices present in a defined area during a specific time—are constitutional under the **Fourth Amendment**. The case arises from the prosecution of Okello Chatrie, where police used a geofence request to obtain anonymized location data near a robbery scene and then narrowed it to subscriber information; the petition highlights rapid growth in geofence requests and argues the practice is increasingly common despite inconsistent lower-court rulings and limited judicial guidance for balancing investigative needs against user privacy.
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US and UK Immigration Agencies Seek Expanded Surveillance and Data-Analytics Capabilities
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