Police Search of Google Location Data Invades Privacy, ACLU Says

Law enforcement shouldn’t have been allowed to leverage mobile location data from Alphabet Inc.'s Google as evidence against a bank robbery suspect in Virginia, according to a legal filing from the American Civil Liberties Union.

So-called geofence warrants authorize “sweeping searches” of location records that pose threats to people’s privacy and lack proper oversight by courts, the ACLU said in a brief filed Jan. 27 in support of Okello Chatrie, the man accused of robbing the bank.

The case is considered the first of its kind, with a criminal defendant challenging the use of mobile location data as evidence in ...