FBI demanded location data for close to 6000 phones around Capitol on January 6, and Google said 'Sure!'

January 6, 2021, still looms very large in the heads of a lot of people. And honestly, it would be unfair to call that unfair. It was a terrible thing that happened, and it never should have happened, under any circumstances. There was absolutely no excuse for it, and it’s nothing if not an indelible stain on the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

With all of that being said, though, the way that the Democratic Party has chosen to use it is obnoxious and shameful, invoking it at every opportunity — even when it has literally nothing to do with the topic at hand — and using it to justify every bad policy idea they can come up with.

And now, they’re evidently using it as an excuse to be able to go after thousands of Americans who haven’t demonstrably done anything wrong:

Google provided investigators with location data for more than 5,000 devices as part of the federal investigation into the attack on the US Capitol. Via @WiredUK https://t.co/phjRnyhkr3

— WIRED (@WIRED) November 28, 2022

More from Wired:

The FBI’s biggest-ever investigation included the biggest-ever haul of phones from controversial geofence warrants, court records show. A filing in the case of one of the January 6 suspects, David Rhine, shows that Google initially identified 5,723 devices as being in or near the US Capitol during the riot. Only around 900 people have so far been charged with offenses relating to the siege.

The filing suggests that dozens of phones that were in airplane mode during the riot, or otherwise out of cell service, were caught up in the trawl. Nor could users erase their digital trails later. In fact, 37 people who attempted to delete their location data following the attacks were singled out by the FBI for greater scrutiny.

Geofence search warrants are intended to locate anyone in a given area using digital services. Because Google’s Location History system is both powerful and widely used, the company is served about 10,000 geofence warrants in the US each year. Location History leverages GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth signals to pinpoint a phone within a few yards. Although the final location is still subject to some uncertainty, it is usually much more precise than triangulating signals from cell towers. Location History is turned off by default, but around a third of Google users switch it on, enabling services like real-time traffic prediction.

…

“We have a rigorous process for geofence warrants that is designed to protect the privacy of our users while supporting the important work of law enforcement,” [Google] said. “When Google receives legal demands, we examine them closely for legal validity and constitutional concerns, including overbreadth, consistent with developing case law. If a request asks for too much information, we work to narrow it. We routinely push back on overbroad demands, including overbroad geofence demands, and in some cases, we object to producing any information at all.”

Oh, so Google says they “have a rigorous process for geofence warrants that is designed to protect the privacy of our users” and will put their feet down “if a request asks for too much information.” Well, based on what we’ve seen from Google when it comes to cracking down on free speech (remember all those suspended YouTube videos from conservative channels? Remember the demonetization of conservative channels?), why in the world should anyone in their right mind believe that Google would say no to the Justice Department? To Joe Biden’s Justice Department, for whom “overbreadth” is just their bread and butter?

"geofence dragnet"

Wow. That's a new one for me.

— Erin O'Brien (@erin__obrien) November 28, 2022

Well, we should probably get used to the idea, just to be safe, because it’s only a matter of time before the government decides that Google needs to cast wide geofence dragnets all over the damn place — and Google decides to happily oblige.

I'm sure if this were done during rthe Floyd protests, the anti-Trump P*ssy Hat protest, or MLK's March on Washington, it would have been NBD either.

— Soxaholic (@MikeBrennan330) November 28, 2022

Oh man … can you imagine if this technology had been used during a GOP presidential administration? There would have been a huge public outcry, as there should be in a situation like this. And who’s to say that a future Republican presidential administration couldn’t pull something like this? The Democratic Party has set a number of troubling precedents that have come back to bite them — hard — despite very vocal warnings from Republican politicians and conservatives in general.

Surely this ability will not be abused

— Jason Zorich (@f1fan6735) November 28, 2022

That’s sarcasm, obviously.

I’m sure this is fine and won’t set a precedent for dragnetting data of thousands of Americans at any protest/gathering the gov’t can argue included criminal activity. 👀 https://t.co/5A3AWobMiG

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 28, 2022

That’s sarcasm, too.

And who’s to say that any government-requested geofence dragnet would be limited to protests that become violent? What about peaceful demonstrations against government policies? If the government that happens to be in charge at the time doesn’t like what those peaceful demonstrations are about, what’s to stop that government from demanding user data for people who were at those peaceful demonstrations, or even for people who were nowhere near them?

I realize that on this subject, we’re back in “fed law enforcement is only populated by glorious public servants who can do no wrong and has no bad incentives and shall not be besmirched” mode, but ya know. pic.twitter.com/6VZRhkTDRF

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 28, 2022

You know how slippery slopes work, right? Well, this slippery slope is being buttered and doused in baby oil.

I mean, I don’t know what I expect. Clapper lied to Congress about dragnetting info from the American people and he’s among the most cited “trusted public servants who can do no wrong and shall not be besmirched” in media.

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 28, 2022

Good rule of thumb: If James Clapper would get behind it, it’s a very bad idea.

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