Location Data Privacy Protection Expanding in Judges’ Hands

Courts have been expanding privacy protections for law enforcement access to real-time cell tower data, a trend attorneys say eventually could include other location-based information.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that government officials must get warrants for historical cell-site location information under the Fourth Amendment. The justices didn’t rule in Carpenter v. United States on whether real-time data deserved the same protection. Several courts have said since that it does.

The decisions “reflect the growing consensus among courts, legislators, and the public that there is simply too much personal information available electronically for the Constitution not to be ...