The data Google provided eventually led detectives to two suspects who are now in prison for the murder. But law enforcement's demand for Google location data using what's known as "geofence warrants" also sparked concerns that the requests violated the suspects' constitutional rights. The number of geofence warrants Google reports receiving from U.S. law enforcement increased from 982 in 2018 to 11,554 in 2020, the most recent data released show. Concerns about the controversial law enforcement tool were heightened after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion last year. Geofence warrants, by contrast, request information about users who may have been in a particular place at a particular time.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 24, 2023 16:00 UTC