{"id":1250,"date":"2017-08-14T20:31:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T04:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?p=1250"},"modified":"2017-08-16T16:52:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T00:52:09","slug":"bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Mozilla has joined other major technology companies in filing <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/No.-16-402-ac-Technology-Companies1.pdf\">an amicus brief<\/a> urging the Supreme Court of the United States to reexamine how the 4th Amendment and search warrant requirements should apply in our digital era. We are joining this brief because we believe our laws need to keep up with what we already know to be true: that the Internet is an integral part of modern life, and that user privacy must not be treated as optional.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of this case is the government\u2019s attempt to obtain \u201ccell site location information\u201d to aid in a criminal investigation. This information is generated continuously when your phone is on. Your phone communicates with nearby cell sites to connect with the cellular network and those sites create a record of your phone\u2019s location as you go about your business. In the case at hand, the government did not obtain a warrant, which would have required probable cause, before obtaining this location information. Instead, the government sought a court order under the Stored Communications Act of 1986, which requires a lesser showing.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at how the courts have dealt with the cell phone location records in this case demonstrates why our laws must be revisited to account for modern technological reality. The district court decided that the government didn\u2019t have to obtain a warrant because people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cell phone location information. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit acknowledged that similar information, such as GPS monitoring in government investigations, would require a warrant. But it too found no warrant was needed because the location information was a \u201cbusiness record\u201d from a \u201cthird party\u201d (i.e., the service providers).<\/p>\n<p>We believe users should not be forced to surrender their expectations of privacy when using their phones and we hope the Court will reconsider the law in this area.<\/p>\n<p>*Brief link updated on August 16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Mozilla has joined other major technology companies in filing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court of the United States to reexamine how the 4th Amendment and search warrant &hellip; <a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162584,283226,1],"tags":[10126],"coauthors":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jishnu Menon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/\",\"name\":\"Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-15T04:31:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-17T00:52:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/8ebe06e48dcb6cbf38544d3531bcdf6f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/\",\"name\":\"Open Policy &amp; Advocacy\",\"description\":\"Mozilla&#039;s official blog on open Internet policy initiatives and developments\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/8ebe06e48dcb6cbf38544d3531bcdf6f\",\"name\":\"Jishnu Menon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/776b5ef9aa071f8e475866f4262d58f5\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/863ab1b225a96b03b79dc4d205b51085?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/863ab1b225a96b03b79dc4d205b51085?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jishnu Menon\"},\"description\":\"Associate General Counsel at Mozilla. I work on business, legal and policy issues at Mozilla.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@jishnu_menon\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jishnu Menon","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/","name":"Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-15T04:31:48+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-17T00:52:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/8ebe06e48dcb6cbf38544d3531bcdf6f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/08\/14\/bringing-4th-amendment-digital-age\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bringing the 4th Amendment into the Digital Age"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/","name":"Open Policy &amp; Advocacy","description":"Mozilla&#039;s official blog on open Internet policy initiatives and developments","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/8ebe06e48dcb6cbf38544d3531bcdf6f","name":"Jishnu Menon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/776b5ef9aa071f8e475866f4262d58f5","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/863ab1b225a96b03b79dc4d205b51085?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/863ab1b225a96b03b79dc4d205b51085?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jishnu Menon"},"description":"Associate General Counsel at Mozilla. 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