{"id":1759853,"date":"2022-12-02T11:44:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T16:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1759853"},"modified":"2022-12-02T11:48:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T16:48:22","slug":"how-google-helped-fbi-track-thousands-of-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-google-helped-fbi-track-thousands-of-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"How Google Helped FBI Track Thousands of Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-google-helped-fbi-track-thousands-of-americans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1759853&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent filing (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23166814-221017-rhine-motion-to-suppress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) in the case of one Jan. 6 defendant revealed that Google provided the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-fbi\">FBI<\/a> with location data for 5,723 cellular devices that were determined to be near the U.S. Capitol that day.<\/p>\n<p>Filed on Oct. 17 on behalf of defendant David Rhine, the motion urged the court to suppress Google location history evidence, and \u201cthe fruits of that evidence,\u201d that had been submitted by the government on the grounds that the information had been obtained by a \u201cmodern-day general warrant\u201d in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe \u2018geofence warrant\u2019 searched and seized Google \u2018Location History\u2019 data belonging to thousands of people,\u201d the motion states. \u201cMr. Rhine had a Fourth Amendment interest in his Location History data, and the warrant was overbroad and lacking particularity under the Fourth Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A geofence warrant permits law enforcement to search a database of digital location data to find mobile devices\u2014and by extension, their owners\u2014that were active within a specified area.<\/p>\n<p>According to the filing, the government \u201ccompelled\u201d Google to search all accounts for those with location data that fell within a four-acre area around the Capitol between 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>While the government\u2019s application for the geofence warrant and the warrant itself remain sealed, Rhine\u2019s lawyers noted that the application relied on the assumption that, \u201cbecause of the pandemic, the security surrounding the Capitol in preparation for the Inauguration, the security surrounding the Capitol for the protests of the Certification, and the limited scope of the geographic area covered by this warrant, there will probably be no tourists or bystanders to be found in any of this data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the government claimed that those located within four acres of the Capitol on Jan. 6 were likely there to engage in criminal activity.<\/p>\n<p>Noting that their client\u2019s mere presence near the Capitol was not necessarily evidence of a crime, Rhine\u2019s attorneys continued, \u201cThe breadth and vagaries of the items to be seized was an invitation to do a general search of the private papers\u2014Google account\u2014of anyone who may have been in or near the geofence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/fbi-google-geofence-warrant-january-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wired<\/a>, Google is served approximately 10,000 geofence warrants in the United States each year.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement defending the company\u2019s handling of such warrants, a Google spokesperson told Wired: \u201cWe have a rigorous process \u2026 that is designed to protect the privacy of our users while supporting the important work of law enforcement. When Google receives legal demands, we examine them closely for legal validity and constitutional concerns, including over-breadth, consistent with developing case law. If a request asks for too much information, we work to narrow it. We routinely push back on over-broad demands, including over-broad geofence demands, and in some cases, we object to producing any information at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, Rhine\u2019s attorneys argued that the Jan. 6 geofence warrant was over-broad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the outset, the government enlisted Google to search untold millions of unknown accounts in a massive fishing expedition,\u201d they noted in the filing. \u201cUnlike scenarios where a company must search defined records to identify responsive data, the search here did not identify any specific users or accounts to be searched. Instead, the warrant forced Google to act as an adjunct detective, scouring the accounts of \u2018numerous tens of millions\u2019 of users to generate a lead for the government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adding that geofence warrants \u201calmost always\u201d involve intrusion into constitutionally protected areas, Rhine\u2019s attorneys urged the court to suppress the data obtained from the warrant.<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 30, the government responded\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.237714\/gov.uscourts.dcd.237714.59.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) to Rhine\u2019s attorneys\u2019 motion, holding that it should be denied because the geofence warrant was \u201csufficiently particular,\u201d had been tailored \u201cto the greatest degree possible,\u201d and was supported by probable cause.<\/p>\n<p>Rhine has been charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and destructive conduct within a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and \u201cparading, demonstrating, or picketing\u201d in a Capitol building.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-samantha-flom\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Samantha-Flom.jpg\" alt=\"Samantha Flom\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bio\">Samantha Flom is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering U.S. politics and news. A graduate of Syracuse University, she has a background in journalism and nonprofit communications.<br \/>\nContact her at <a href=\"mailto:samantha.flom@epochtimes.us\">samantha.flom@epochtimes.us<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent filing (pdf) in the case of one Jan. 6 defendant revealed that Google provided the FBI with location data for 5,723 cellular devices that were determined to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1721655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1759853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1759853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1721655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1759853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1759853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1759853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}