The Supreme Court Just Put Limits on Geofence Warrants
Show notes
The Supreme Court says constitutional privacy protections can apply to cellphone location history and geofence warrant data. Tom Eston and Scott Wright discuss the privacy implications of geofence warrants — requests that can sweep up information about many people near a location, not just a named suspect — and why this ruling matters for anyone carrying a smartphone.
They also connect the ruling to broader location privacy risks, including app permissions, weather apps, ad networks, data brokers, and the privacy dashboards offered by Google and other major platforms. The episode closes with practical advice: review location permissions, avoid “always on” access unless truly needed, delete old location history where appropriate, and understand how location data fits into your personal threat model.
** Links mentioned on the show **
AP News: Supreme Court / Okello Chatrie geofence warrant coverage
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-okello-chatrie-geofence-warrants-a3adee8a3fd32b8ea1b42eb72cbcc35f
EFF: Victory! Supreme Court Says the Constitution Protects People’s Location Data
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/victory-supreme-court-says-constitution-protects-peoples-location-data
CyberScoop: Supreme Court geofence warrant ruling
https://cyberscoop.com/supreme-court-geofence-warrant-ruling-phone-privacy-chatrie/
New York Times: Supreme Court geofence warrant / cellphone location coverage
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/us/politics/supreme-court-geofence-warrant-cell-phones.html
Previous Shared Security: Google Geofence Warrants
https://sharedsecurity.net/2020/03/25/click-armor-demo-podcast-survey-results-google-geofence-warrants/
Previous Shared Security: Top 3 Location Tracking Apps: Do They Sell Your Data?
https://sharedsecurity.net/2022/03/21/top-3-location-tracking-apps-do-they-sell-your-data/
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