Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=50570"><span class="small">Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, The New York Times</span></a>

Saturday, 13 April 2019 12:55

Valentino-DeVries writes: "When detectives in a Phoenix suburb arrested a warehouse worker in a murder investigation last December, they credited a new technique with breaking open the case after other leads went cold."

Often, Google employees said, the company responds to a single warrant with location information on dozens or hundreds of devices. (photo: Artur Debat/Getty Images)

Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, The New York Times

13 April 19

The tech giant records people�s locations worldwide. Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes, running the risk of snaring the innocent.

hen detectives in a Phoenix suburb arrested a warehouse worker in a murder investigation last December, they credited a new technique with breaking open the case after other leads went cold.

The police told the suspect, Jorge Molina, they had data tracking his phone to the site where a man was shot nine months earlier. They had made the discovery after obtaining a search warrant that required Google to provide information on all devices it recorded near the killing, potentially capturing the whereabouts of anyone in the area.

Investigators also had other circumstantial evidence, including security video of someone firing a gun from a white Honda Civic, the same model that Mr. Molina owned, though they could not see the license plate or attacker.

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