Google Location Data Tempts Police While Privacy Advocates Worry

Location tracking data from Alphabet Inc. is a tempting way for law enforcement to seek out suspects in the vicinity of a crime, but a first-of-its-kind legal ruling could put a stop to police efforts to use it.

These so-called geofence warrants allow law enforcement to scour a crime scene for potential suspects, rather than acting on a hunch about a specific suspect and asking a judge for a warrant to search their home or belongings.

Geofence warrants rely on Google’s extensive records showing where a user’s mobile phone is located at a given time, offering a novel way to ...