{"id":1822485,"date":"2023-12-18T20:47:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T01:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1822485"},"modified":"2023-12-18T22:58:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T03:58:22","slug":"google-maps-updates-will-make-it-impossible-for-google-to-respond-to-geofence-warrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/12\/google-maps-updates-will-make-it-impossible-for-google-to-respond-to-geofence-warrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps Updates Will Make It Impossible for Google to Respond to Geofence Warrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I mentioned<\/a> forthcoming changes to how Google Maps stores users\u2019 location data. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, those changes could spell the end of what are known as geofence warrants<\/a>, which \u201crequire a provider\u2014almost always Google\u2014to search its entire reserve of user location data to identify all<\/i> users or devices located within a geographic area during a time period specified by law enforcement.\u201d The EFF believes geofence warrants are unconstitutional in the United States. Defaulting to on-device storage, deletion after three months, and encrypted cloud backups means Google can\u2019t access that data: there\u2019s nothing for them to turn over.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this is fantastic news for users, and we are cautiously optimistic that this will effectively mean the end of geofence warrants,\u201d says the EFF<\/a>. \u201cHowever, we are not yet prepared to declare total victory. Google\u2019s collection of users\u2019 location data isn\u2019t limited to just the \u2018Location History\u2019 data searched in response to geofence warrants; Google collects additional location information as well. It remains to be seen whether law enforcement will find a way to access these other stores of location data on a mass basis in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Via Daring Fireball<\/a> (where Gruber notes that Apple has never collected location data, i.e. there\u2019s a reason it\u2019s \u201calmost always Google\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I mentioned forthcoming changes to how Google Maps stores users\u2019 location data. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, those changes could spell the end of what are known as geofence warrants, which \u201crequire… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[82,646],"class_list":["post-1822485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-mobile","tag-google-maps","tag-privacy","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1833582,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/08\/geofence-warrants-found-unconstitutional-by-one-u-s-federal-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822485,"position":0},"title":"Geofence Warrants Found Unconstitutional by One U.S. Federal Court","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 August 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"A U.S. federal court has held that geofence warrants are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, finding that they fit the definition of general warrants that are \u201ccategorically prohibited\u201d by that Amendment. EFF, TechCrunch. Geofence warrants, you may recall, require a data provider (usually Google) to identify all users in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1831786,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/google-timeline-location-history-moves-to-on-device-storage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822485,"position":1},"title":"Google Timeline: Location History Moves to On-Device Storage","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 June 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"More details emerged this week on how Google Maps is changing how it stores users\u2019 location data\u2014which is that as of December 2024 it basically won\u2019t: Location History has been rebranded Google Timeline and will be stored on-device, where you can set it to auto-delete after a specified period of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1822075,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/12\/google-maps-updates-offer-users-more-control-over-their-data\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822485,"position":2},"title":"Google Maps Updates Offer Users More Control Over Their Data","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 December 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Forthcoming updates to Google Maps will give users a bit more control over their location data. Location History\u2014off by default\u2014will have the option of being stored on-device rather than on Google\u2019s servers, and auto-delete will default to three months instead of 18. Meanwhile, users will be able to delete activity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5998,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/08\/and-in-google-maps-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822485,"position":3},"title":"And in Google Maps News …","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 August 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"Google's Map Maker is in the process of reopening, with six countries reopening on August 10 and another 45 countries last Monday. Map Maker, Google's tool allowing users to make changes to Google Maps, was suspended last May after some embarrassing edits came to light. Regional leads are now in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Web Mapping"","block_context":{"text":"Web Mapping","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/web-mapping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787873,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/google-maps-data-and-the-google-maps-platform\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822485,"position":4},"title":"Google Maps Data and the Google Maps Platform","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 October 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Google Maps product director Ethan Russell has a post about their map data: how (and how often) it\u2019s updated, how to submit updates, how it\u2019s managed and checked for accuracy, that sort of thing. It\u2019s one of a series of posts on the Google Maps Platform, which is (now) their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Web Mapping"","block_context":{"text":"Web Mapping","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/web-mapping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/google-maps-ios-icon-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4141,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/the-isle-of-bait\/","url_meta":{"origin":1822485,"position":5},"title":"The Isle of Bait","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"1 April 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"The Future Mapping Company has announced the discovery of a new island 20 kilometres off the coast of Great Britain. They have naturally already produced a new map of this island. The Isle of Bait is a small, beautiful and untouched paradise, but there is a hitch\u2014it is only visible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/imaginary-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/isle-of-bait-990x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/isle-of-bait-990x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/isle-of-bait-990x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/isle-of-bait-990x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822485"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1822497,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822485\/revisions\/1822497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}