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While law enforcement officials are excited about the opportunity to use location data to find suspects in a criminal investigation, the cops say that they can not accuse anyone of what is wrong. 39 simply because they appear in the Google database. Speaking of which, Sensorvault would contain location data covering hundreds of millions of devices dating back nearly 10 years. When a request from a law enforcement agency arrives, it usually looks for information from Google about devices that appear to be at a particular location for a given period of time.
The law enforcement officials who spoke with the Time said that only Google is able to respond to requests for information of this type. They note that Apple has stated that it does not have the necessary capabilities to provide such location data. But an intelligence badyst working at the sheriff's office in San Mateo County, California, said that, based on his experience, Google has the location data available for most Android phones and some iPhones.
The information provided by Google not only helps police find suspects, but can also lead them to meet witnesses who may have seen or heard something important during the commission of a crime. . Despite the apparent usefulness of the Sensorvault database, some Google employees point out that the database was not created to meet the needs of law enforcement agencies and could generate inaccurate information.
"We are monitoring all the privacy issues we all face over the phone – and when such issues are relevant in a criminal case, this should give everyone a serious break." – Catherine Turner, Minnesota defense lawyer
With the growing number of inquiries, the Google unit that provides the data to the forces of order is overwhelmed. As a result, it can take up to six months for the cops to get the information they want. A Google employee reported receiving 180 requests in one week of data from his Sensorvault database.
Google's location data "does not appear like a ribbon"
Legal experts have also noted that innocent people are caught in the location data provided by Google to the police. While Google's information is sealed in some states, in others, the data can be obtained by the press and an innocent person can be identified in the media as being linked to a crime. And the cops have a way around the Fourth Amendment's request that a search warrant cover a limited area and contain a probable cause. To prove the probable cause, most warrants indicate that the majority of Americans own a cell phone and that Google has location data on many of these phones. This is enough for a judge to issue the warrant in most cases.
It is unclear how many of these warrants resulted in arrest or conviction. Washington State high-ranking prosecutor Gary Ernsdorff has handled many of these warrants and notes that Google's data "do not appear as an answer, that is, a guilty". The suspects have yet to be investigated and Ernsdorff adds that "we will not accuse anyone just because Google has said to be present."
Excerpt from a search warrant requesting location data from Google
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