EFF Location Privacy Victory at Third Circuit Stands, With Implications Far Beyond Your Cell Phone

“In EFF’s second major privacy victory in as many days, the
Third Circuit Court of Appeals today denied the government’s
request that it reconsider its September decision regarding
government access to cell phone company records that reveal your
past locations. That means the court’s original opinion —
holding that federal magistrates have the discretion to require the
government to get a search warrant based on probable cause before
obtaining cell phone location records — is now the settled
law of the Third Circuit, assuming the government doesn’t seek
review by the Supreme Court. Importantly, this victory won’t just
provide greater protection for the privacy of your cell phone
records but for all other communications records that the
government currently obtains without warrants.

“As we summarized when we filed our latest brief opposing the
government’s petition to the Third Circuit for a rehearing, this
appellate case — awkwardly titled In the Matter of the
Application of the USA for an Order Directing a Provider of
Electronic Communication Service to Disclose Records to the
Government — was sparked when the government appealed a lower
court judge’s denial of a government request for a court order to
obtain cell phone location records without probable cause. In
September, we won a great victory when the the three-judge panel
reviewing the case agreed with EFF’s arguments and held that
federal law gives magistrates the discretion to require warrants
for such data.”

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