NYU School of Law professor and Policing project Reporter Barry Friedman is quoted in the New York Times op-ed “Cops, Cellphones and Privacy at the Supreme Court.” The piece examines how law enforcement obtains location-data, an issue the Supreme Court will face in the Fourth Amendment case, Carpenter v. U.S., concerning the warrantless search and seizure of cellphone data under the third-party doctrine.
The article notes that relying on a doctrine developed in the 1970s fails to consider both technological and societal advances when collecting data.
Professor Friedman raises the following questions that the Court will need to consider: “How much data can you get? How long can you hold it? Can you share it with other agencies? Do people have a right to know that they’re in it? Does it have to be purged after the investigation is over? The Supreme Court doesn’t have a scalpel to write those rules, but that’s what is needed.”
Oral arguments for Carpenter will be heard on November 29.
Read the full New York Times article [subscription required].