Court finds cell site location data to be protected by Fourth Amendment

A federal district court held that cell site location data obtained without a search warrant to be unconstitutional, bringing the number of such holdings to more than a dozen, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a one page opinion, Judge Lynn Hughes (S.D. Tex.) ruled that "[w]hen the government requests records from cellular services, data disclosing the location of the telephone at the time of particular calls may be acquired only by a warrant issued on probable cause."

The government had argued that the location data was a business record, and thus does not fall within the protections of the Fourth Amendment.

Such records are theoretically obtainable under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) without a warrant as are call records, text messages, subscriber information, etc., but because cell site location data may allow the government to track a person's every movement, some courts require a higher standard.

The great showdown for the government's ability to track without a search warrant will come when the Supreme Court releases its decision in United States v. Jones, heard last week by the high court concerning the government's ability to place a GPS device on a vehicle and track its movements without probable cause.