Cops can’t do cell tower mass surveillance ‘dumps,’ court rules
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Summary
Nevada federal judge, Miranda Du, has ruled that obtaining masses of mobile phone records via ‘tower dumps’, which allows authorities to view the data of all phones which pinged a particular tower in a given time period, regardless of whether they are investigating the user of a specific phone, is a violation of the 4th Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable search.
The court has not, however, forbidden using the information gleaned as evidence, on the basis that this is the first such ruling in the 9th Circuit, and could therefore set a precedent.
This is the second such ruling in the space of a few months, highlighting the growing concern around individuals’ privacy and such blanket surveillance tactics.