from Hacker News

Google: 'Reverse Warrants' Becoming Law Enforcement's Go-To Investigative Tool

by Atlas on 8/28/21, 5:06 AM with 33 comments

• by commoner on 8/28/21, 9:06 AM

  Instructions for deleting your location history and disabling location reporting on a Google account:

  https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687

  It's unclear whether this is enough to prevent a geofence warrant from sweeping up your data.

  For additional security, an Android user can stop using Google Play Services for geolocation. This can be done by disabling Google Play Services or switching to an Android distribution without Play Services, at the cost of slowing down the process of getting a location lock (since Play Services uses Wi-Fi and cell tower trilateration to accelerate this).

  Another solution is to replace Play Services with microG, which allows you to use a selection of non-Google location providers for trilateration, including ones that work fully offline. Android distributions that pre-install microG include CalyxOS, LineageOS for microG, and /e/. Alternatively, DivestOS includes the location module of microG (UnifiedNlp) but not the other parts.

• by torstenvl on 8/28/21, 1:43 PM

  > They're called "warrants" but they can't possibly be supported by probable cause. Treating everyone in the area of a suspected crime as a criminal suspect until things can be sorted out inverts this concept.

  This not a good faith analysis. Probable cause to make an arrest of a suspect is different for probable cause of a search.

  Only the former requires probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that the person in question committed it.

  Probable cause for a search means probable cause to believe a crime was committed and that the area to be searched contains relevant evidence. It is the question of whether "there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place." Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 214 (1983).

  If there was a murder in your neighborhood and your neighbor saw a random person digging a large hole in your back yard and putting a body bag in it, there would be probable cause to search your property without regard to whether you yourself were implicated as a suspect.

• by karmakaze on 8/28/21, 1:14 PM

  The source of the problem is the metrics and motivations are not aligned with keeping the population safe. It is more about self-serving the existence and growth of law enforcement.

• by atemerev on 8/28/21, 8:56 AM

  The tech maxim: everything that can be used for evil will be used for evil.

• by threatofrain on 8/28/21, 9:26 AM

  Prior relevant discussion.

  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28266650 (23 Aug 2021)

• by tyingq on 8/28/21, 12:20 PM

  It seems like it would be relatively easy to poison a geofenced area with a mountain of fake data during a crime.

• by rektide on 8/28/21, 6:20 AM

  the world governments are incidentally launching an attack on data holding enterprises. the danger of keeping data js rapidly becoming a bigger risk than it's value. this is both good because jt will rebalance how & where data is kept, but bad because the governments of the world are inhibiting the ability of companies to keep many classes of data at all. government is ruining computing in the cloud and there's nothing to stop it from ongoingly fucking it all up.

• by hiram112 on 8/29/21, 4:33 AM

  When is it legitimate to "punch of Googler"?

• by zug_zug on 8/28/21, 12:14 PM

  I guess I support this for only "serious crimes". Probably best to limit it to violent crimes against citizens mostly for now (e.g. murder, etc), and then consider expanding it on a case-by-case basis.

• by France_is_bacon on 8/29/21, 5:12 AM

  I don't carry my phone anywhere. However, I have it in a Faraday bag at all times, even a the place where I store it. No signals can get through a Faraday bag, so there is no tracking you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

  I never use my mobile phone, except rarely. Unfortunately, having a phone is becoming 100% mandatory. One cannot get financial services, for example, without a mobile phone. The companies will not accept you as a client. If I could get away with not having a mobile phone, I would never buy one. So I broke down and bought the least expensive mobile phone that I could a few months ago, paid the cheapest plan ($15/month), and keep it for those singular occasions where I need it. I need it maybe once every few months, and have to pay $50 for the phone, and $180 per year for the phone plan. Just to use it a few times a year.

  Anyways, if you don't want to be tracked everywhere, get a Faraday bag and keep your phone in it all the time, except when you use it.

  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=faraday+bag&ref=nb_sb_noss_2