Thurs. Feb. 25, 2021 | By Art Raymond – Deseret News |
SALT LAKE CITY — A new tool in wide use by law enforcement agencies across the country can draw a circle on any map and seek out, through chilling data search techniques, who was in or near that area at any specific time.
That’s all thanks to the signals your cellphone is constantly receiving and emitting, whether you’re using it or not.
So if you happened to be walking your dog through that search zone at the same time a crime was committed, you could end up as part of an investigation based on nothing more substantial than easily obtainable records showing everywhere you’ve been with that cellphone in your pocket.
Now, a bill that could have created landmark restrictions on these type of dragnet-style law enforcement searches, ones that can access databases showing not only where you’ve been but what searches you’ve conducted on your browser — even if you’re not a suspect — has been toned down by Utah lawmakers but could still lead to some new privacy protections for residents.
So-called reverse location and reverse keyword searches are possible thanks to data stored by Google and other digital platforms that include historical information about where a cellphone user has traveled, through built-in location tracking abilities in mobile devices, and every search term you’ve used on some browsers…
Read the full story here.
