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PHILADELPHIA — Judges have the right to require warrants before police get cellphone records that could suggest a customer’s likely location, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a novel electronic-privacy case.
The case involves the government’s interest in records showing a location of past calls. Judges in a Pittsburgh drug case had insisted that federal agents get a warrant for the data. The government appealed, arguing that the 1986 Electronics Communications Privacy Act required only “reasonable grounds” that the data are relevant to a criminal investigation, not the higher probable-cause standard for warrants.
Tuesday’s ruling was a victory for electronic-privacy advocates.
