US supreme court rules geofence warrants require constitutional privacy protections

In a significant win for digital privacy, the US Supreme Court has ruled that police use of geofence warrants—bulk requests collecting smartphone location data from entire geographic areas—must comply with Fourth Amendment protections. Writing for the majority, Justice Elena Kagan held that individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their location history, even when they're in public spaces. The ruling limits what was increasingly viewed as law enforcement dragnet surveillance. According to The Guardian, the decision could substantially change how police departments deploy location data in criminal investigations.

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