Re:Supreme Court to Hear Case on Cellphone Location Data
by rayiner on Monday June 05, 2017 @01:26PM
(#14489425)
The Stingray is legally grayer. Carrier data is squarely within the third party doctrine.[1] The fourth amendment protects individuals' rights in "their persons, houses, papers, and effects." A carrier's billing records are not your papers and effects; they're the carrier's property, generated by the carrier for the carrier's own internal purposes.[1]
The Stingray, however, interacts directly with the suspect's cell phone. Third party doctrine becomes irrelevant at that point, and the government has to fall back to arguing that whatever a Stingray does is not a "search" or a "seizure."
[1] Doesn't mean the Supreme Court won't limit third party doctrine in this case.
[2] Say some nosy neighbor keeps a list every person that enters or leaves a house in a neighborhood. The resident of the house is murdered. The nosy neighbor's list shows that you entered the house the day of the murder. You can't assert a 4th amendment right as to the nosy neighbor's list. It's a paper that's about you, but it's not your paper.
The Stingray, however, interacts directly with the suspect's cell phone. Third party doctrine becomes irrelevant at that point, and the government has to fall back to arguing that whatever a Stingray does is not a "search" or a "seizure."
[1] Doesn't mean the Supreme Court won't limit third party doctrine in this case.
[2] Say some nosy neighbor keeps a list every person that enters or leaves a house in a neighborhood. The resident of the house is murdered. The nosy neighbor's list shows that you entered the house the day of the murder. You can't assert a 4th amendment right as to the nosy neighbor's list. It's a paper that's about you, but it's not your paper.