Supreme Court cellphone tracking case to redefine privacy in the digital age

Washington Post:

The Supreme Court will hear arguments this Wednesday in Carpenter v. United States, a criminal case testing the scope of the Fourth Amendment's right to privacy in the digital age....

The defendant was convicted of leading a gang of robbers. The prosecution produced cellphone-tower data that tracked the whereabouts of Carpenter's cellphone for more than four months and placed him at or near the sites of a string of armed robberies. The police acquired the data from Carpenter's wireless carriers without a warrant showing probable cause.

A majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held that ...Carpenter had voluntarily conveyed data revealing his location to wireless carriers -- the third-party operators of the cell towers. He knew, or should have known, that the wireless carriers were free to track his locations and furnish the information to the police.