Last Thursday, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in Carpenter v. United States. At issue was whether the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment when it obtained the cellphone location records of Timothy Carpenter. The FBI used these records to establish Mr. Carpenter’s whereabouts during time periods in which certain armed robberies occurred. The government argued that Mr. Carpenter did not have an expectation of privacy in these records and, thus, no warrant was required. Mr. Carpenter argued that “carrying a smartphone, checking for new emails from one’s boss, updating the weather forecast, and downloading directions ought not license total surveillance of a person’s entire life.”
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Fourth Amendment
Supreme Court to Hear Microsoft Emails Case
In an order issued on October 16, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Microsoft Corporation, a case with potentially far-reaching implications for the privacy of electronic data maintained by technology companies across the globe.
The case, which Robinson+Cole has previously discussed here, here, and here, arises from a warrant obtained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Stored Communications Act (SCA).[1] The SCA was enacted in 1986 to protect the privacy of electronic communications, including by extending privacy protections to electronic records analogous to those afforded under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[2] In relevant part, the SCA requires a governmental entity in most instances to secure a warrant in accordance with the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to compel disclosure of electronic communications stored by a service provider.[3]
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U.S. Supreme Court holds that ankle bracelet monitoring is a form of search and seizure
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court in Grady v. North Carolina vacated the judgment of the Supreme Court of North Carolina upholding the use of a GPS monitor on a recidivist offender. The statute authorizing the program explained that the purpose of the GPS monitor was “for time correlated and continuous tracking of the geographic…