NV and 6th Cir. Agree, Fourth Amendment Does Not Protect Cell Location Data

Cell phone customers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the records of cell tower usage kept by wireless carrier that reveal where phones were used.

United States v. Carpenter, 2016 BL 114989, 6th Cir., No. 14-1572, 4/13/16;
Taylor v. State, 2016 BL 127001, Nev., No. 65388, 4/21/16

    In Carpenter, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that police may rely on court orders rather than search warrants to gather information about a suspect's movements through phone records because customers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the company's records of cell tower usage. The court distinguished content from "routing information" by saying "[c]ontent, per this distinction, is protected under the Fourth Amendment, but routing information is not." The monitoring of how communications travel "from point A to point B" is not protected.

    In Taylor, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that customers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the cell tower location records that reveal the general areas where the phones were used. This court determined that the information was considered business records that belonged to a third party. The court stated that "a warrant requiring probable cause was not required before obtaining that information" "because Taylor does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in business records made, kept and owned by his provider."

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/UNITED_STATES_OF_AMERICA_PlaintiffAppellee_v_No_TIMOTHY_IVORY_CAR?1463070438

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Taylor_v_State_No_65388_2016_BL_127001_Nev_Apr_21_2016_Court_Opin?1463582294