The FBI could use a "geofence warrant" to access the location and other data of Google Android smartphone users when they are found to be near a crime scene, a new document reveals.
This illustration picture shows Google map application displaying COVID-19 restrictions along your route on a smartphone in Arlington, Virginia on June 9, 2020.
FBI Could Track Your Phone Location
As per a news story by The Sun, the FBI or the Federal Bureau of Investigation served the search engine tech giant, Google, which owns and operates the biggest smartphone operating system, Android, a warrant last 2020.
The warrant for Google comes as a part of an investigation in an attempted arson incident in the police building in Seattle last Aug. 24. The attack is a day after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Google 'Geofence Warrant' From FBI
This time around, though, new documents have surfaced, unraveling the Google "geofence warrant" of the FBI, which made the tech giant share information of Android phone users who were near the vicinity of the attack to the authorities.
The Sun further noted in the same news story that some privacy experts have previously been worried that Google is giving away the location data of its users to law enforcement as part of the latter's attempt to search for suspects.
A motorcyclist, Nadia, plays Pokemon Go game on her smartphone on July 24, 2016 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. "Pokemon Go," which uses Google Maps and a smartphone has been a smash-hit in countries where it is available and already popular in Indonesia even though it has not been officially released. Indonesians have been downloading the game by using a proxy location which gives them access to app stores of other countries as security officials have voiced worries that the game could pose a security threat.
According to a report by The Verge, the newly unsealed documents revealed that the Google "geofence warrant" went on to request the data of all of the Android devices that have passed in the vicinity of the attempted arson incident last Aug. 2021.
An unnamed FBI agent said in a court affidavit that "there is probable cause to search information that is currently in possession of Google and that relates to the devices that reported being within the Target Location."
The Google warrant specifically requested for specific Android device users information, such as "location history data, sourced from information including GPS data and information about visible wi-fi points and Bluetooth beacons transmitted from devices to Google, reflecting devices that Google calculated were or could have been ... located within the geographical region bounded by the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, dates, and times below."
Google and 'Geofence Warrant'
A spokesperson from Google told The Verge in a statement that Google follows a "rigorous" process that seeks to protect the privacy of its users before responding to the requests of the law enforcement agencies.
The Sun noted in the same news story that it is actually not the first instance that Google had to give away user information due to a "geofence warrant."
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Written by Teejay Boris
