Cops can easily get months of location data, appeals court rules
So it looks like the problem is the third-party doctrine, which is described as &quot;the 1970s-era Supreme Court case holding that there is no privacy interest in data voluntarily given up to a third party like a cell phone provider.&quot;<p>But people aren&#x27;t voluntarily giving cellular providers this data, right? I mean, I never saw that prompt on my phone asking if Verizon could have access to my location.<p>Of course the truth is Verizon&#x2F;AT&amp;T&#x2F;others collect this data every time your phone hits a tower, but how many customers actually understand this? Is it outlined in the service agreement? I&#x27;ll admit I&#x27;ve never actually read the whole thing before and just assumed it was the usual yadda yadda. But even if it did mention they collect location data, could I then opt-out or say I do not consent to have my location monitored and collected? Would that then protect me from data searches? Probably not...<p>I maintain a large amount of Wi-Fi networks in various locations across the US. While we have the ability to monitor the signal strength of every device and use trilateration to obtain a location, we don&#x27;t do this. But, if we did, does that mean anyone our wireless picked up &quot;voluntarily&quot; gave me this data, and then I would have to give it up to law enforcement at a moments notice?<p>I&#x27;m getting really tired of seeing centuries old laws being cited in 2016&#x27;s technology.