Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

SCOTUS Digital Privacy Decision Will Have Far-Reaching Impact

Friday, June 22, 2018, By Daryl Lovell
Share
Digital AgeLaw enforcementPrivacySupreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled today that law enforcement need to obtain search warrants to access phone location information. This is a landmark decision regarding the way law enforcement officers can utilize technology during evidence gathering and building trials.

William Snyder is a Teaching Professor at the Syracuse University College of Law. Snyder also works with the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT) at SU.

Snyder says:

“The Supreme Court’s decision today will have far-reaching impacts, because it extends Constitutional protections to cell-site location information and not just to the actual content or words and sounds of a cellphone call or text message.

“The government now needs a warrant issued by a judge in order to obtain long-term, detailed records of the location of a cell phone.  The ruling also is significant because the Court reasons that Constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures must change as technology advances – surely a sign that more change will come. Also, the Court struck down Congress’s protections for cell-site location information. That is, the FBI fully complied with the Stored Communications Act and obtained federal court orders requiring Sprint and another carrier to turn over the geolocation information. Those orders are less difficult for police to obtain than are search warrants. Now, more stringent search warrants are required.

“Nevertheless, the Court affirmed that ‘a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties … even if the information is revealed on the assumption that it will be used only for a limited purpose.’ The so-called ‘Third Party Records Doctrine’ survives; the Court just found that it does not apply to long-term ‘encyclopedic’ geographic information generated by cell phones. Striking down the Third Party Records Doctrine would have had enormous implications for government investigations, both for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The Court not only did not go that far, but it reaffirmed the basic principle that the Constitution does not protect evidence a person voluntarily provides to someone else.

“These matters are complex.  The justices wrote 119 pages to explain their reasoning. Also, the decision was 5-4, decided by just one vote.

“Today’s decision is, in the words of the Court, ‘a narrow one.’ It is a step toward extending Constitutional protections in the Cyber Age, but only a step. It points a direction, but the Court is proceeding one step at a time.”

 

 

To request interviews or get more information:

Daryl Lovell
Media Relations Manager
Division of Communications and Marketing

T 315.443.1184   M 315.380.0206
dalovell@syr.edu | @DarylLovell

820 Comstock Avenue, Suite 308, Syracuse, NY 13244
news.syr.edu | syracuse.edu

Syracuse University

  • Author
  • Faculty Experts

Daryl Lovell

  • Recent
  • Rockell Brown Burton Joins Newhouse School as Associate Dean of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility
    Monday, May 23, 2022, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • Corinne Sartori Joins Libraries as Accessibility Specialist
    Monday, May 23, 2022, By Cristina Hatem
  • Eight New Recruits Begin Campus Peace Officer Academy
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Christine Weber
  • Media Tip Sheet: Consequences of China Lockdown
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Dean Rajiv ‘Raj’ Dewan to Step Down as Dean of the School of Information Studies
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By News Staff

More In Media, Law & Policy

Rockell Brown Burton Joins Newhouse School as Associate Dean of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility

Rockell Brown Burton, an experienced academic leader and accomplished researcher with a passion for cultivating impactful, mutually beneficial relationships, has been named associate dean of inclusivity, diversity, equity and accessibility at the Newhouse School. After a national search, she was…

Funding Expands for Newhouse Professors’ Work on Technology to Combat Fake News

Two professors from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who are working on the development of technology to detect manipulated media and combat the spread of fake news are supported by a subcontract that now tops $1.1 million, thanks…

As the School of Education’s Italy Program Returns, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 Reflects on Its Influence

Now a doctoral student researching inclusive education, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 was a sophomore when she took Literacy, Inclusion and Diversity in Italy, a study abroad short course offered by the School of Education and Syracuse Abroad. Soldovieri matriculated…

New Law Scholarship Honors the Ongoing Legacy of the Hon. Theodore A. McKee L’75

Syracuse University College of Law is pleased to announce the establishment of the Hon. Theodore A. McKee L’75 Endowed Law Scholarship with a generous gift from Syracuse University Trustee and College of Law Board of Advisors Member Richard M. Alexander…

College of Law Holds Commencement for Class of 2022

On Friday, May 6, the College of Law held Commencement for its 199 J.D. and 33 LL.M. graduates. The event, the first in-person Commencement since 2019, featured the first cohort of graduating online J.D. students. Luke Cooper L’01, CEO of…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Youtube
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.