Police urges Google to provide user location information as "for suspect search"

byDowning Street

Police in North Carolina State Raleigh in 2017 asked Google to provide user location information as "it is necessary to arrest suspects of the murder case." The debate has arisen as to whether it is OK to admit that "the information of users who may be completely unrelated may be obtained by the investigation institution".

To find suspects, Raleigh police quietly turn to Google :: WRAL.com
http://www.wral.com/Raleigh-police-search-google-location-history/17377435/

In January 2015, there was a case where Adrian Poo living in Raleigh was shot dead at home. Neighboring residents testified that they had heard multiple gunshots before the dawn, and before the sun rose around Mr. Poo's home, the appearance of a suspicious person illuminating the ground with the light of the mobile phone has been witnessed I will. A year and a half later, a taxi driver named Mr. Nuwab Effobi at Raleigh was also shot dead in the vicinity of the company. The surveillance camera captures the appearance that Mr. Effobi quarrels with a man before the incident, and the figure walking while the same man plays the mobile phone in front of the incident, as if the same man was listening to the ear, was reflected in the surveillance camera .

A few months later, in March 2017, Raleigh police adopted the same investigation method for each shooting incident, although it said "There is no relation between the two cases." The investigation team prepared the surrounding satellite map where the murder case occurred and instructed through the court to disclose the identification information of all the mobile phones that passed around the murder case site within a certain time to Google.

In addition to the two murders, Raleigh police asked Google to disclose specific Google account information in 2017, but in regards to the two murders, it is said that " I got it "has become a problem. Lawyers and privacy advocates point out that there is a problem in terms of privacy, not only information about a specific suspect, but also identification information of all users who entered the vicinity of the crime scene. . In response to these opposing opinions, city and county officials said, "It is necessary for Internet companies to cooperate with investigations as criminal investigations progress, which is necessary. We maintain balance so as not to ask for disclosure of user information unnecessarily by requiring a court search warrant. "

byInventorchris

Jonathan Jones, a former public prosecutor at Aeronton University, said, "We share many of our lives with Google, but when we allow Google to collect information, that information will also be shared with the investigative authorities It is said that there is a problem in the situation where the information is used for investigation without the awareness of the user, "how much is the person who recognizes and permits it?

Modern cell phones and tablets incorporate the ability to map device locations by combining GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile network lines. For Google, these location information is useful for using map applications, etc. It is not only Android users but also uses the application provided by Google and gathers user information to Google.

Even if the GPS function is turned off, although accuracy is lowered, you can grasp the location information of the mobile phone to some extent from Wi-Fi connection and mobile network line. Also, with respect to Android terminals, position information service is turned off and even when the SIM card is removed, position informationI was sending it to GoogleIt is clear that it is better to think that as long as you have a mobile device, it is inevitable that information will be passed to Google.

byEric Fischer

The provision of data requested to Google by the Raleigh police in the investigation of two murder cases is identification information of the device which is in the range of about 60,000 square meters around the incident site, including several tens of Washington Terraces It also said that it also included complex facilities covering the area. The location information data that Raleigh police requested Google extends not only to Android devices, but also to all devices on which applications using Google Account location information are installed.

In 2017, Raleigh police also requested Google to provide location data for one arson case and one sexual assault case besides the two shooting death cases. As a method of investigation, first of all, we acquired a large amount of position information data that entered a specific range from Google and asked for further information about suspicious Google accounts narrowed down from that within the specific range.

According to Steve Third, a lawyer at Lowry, "There was no request for acquiring user information by such an investigation method.The search warrant obtained by Raleigh police was obtained based on sufficient grounds It is hard to say that it is a thing. "

byCarlos Luna

Mr. Jones stated that there was no testimony that the criminal had cell phones at least for cases of arson and sexual violence regarding the case that Raleigh police got an investigation warrant. "This is no different from whether you are involved in the crime, from among those who have mobile phones that have passed nearby, they are just searching for criminals with the same degree of certainty as fishing," Mr. Jones Says.

Electronic Frontier FoundationMr. Stephanie Rakhambula, a lawyer who belongs to him, said, "There is a problem in being able to acquire privacy information simply because the criminal is a human being and most people have mobile phones," I am talking. On the other hand, Mr. Freeman, a lawyer who agrees to use Google's information for investigation, said law enforcement agencies need to be sensitive to privacy issues, but using Google's big data is a matter of nature of investigation It is argued that it is just development. "At the convenience store surveillance cameras, we were once criticized as" most people in the surveillance cameras are not convenience robbers, "it is the same."

According to Google's transparency report, 5200 cases of search warrants requesting user information were sent only in the first half of 2017, recording the highest figures ever, and the request by the court order after prosecution It is more than double. Google does not mention whether it has offered the data requested by Raleigh police, but it provides data according to the request of 81% of at least 5200 investigation warrants. However, I did not mention whether it provided data to the search warrant issued by the Raleigh police.

byElvert Barnes

Mr. La Cumbra says that it is necessary for the user himself to become sensitive to the protection of the privacy, "Because you are benefiting from the digital society, there is no need to give up your own privacy."