U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes upheld a Texas district court's decision that the constitution's Fourth Amendment sets probable cause as the minimum for obtaining private records. A government request for asked for 60 days of travel information for certain mobile accounts probed the case.
In his ruling, Hughes wrote, “two months’ worth of hourly tracking data will inevitably reveal a rich slice of the user’s life, activities, and associations.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which advocates on behalf of individual rights, filed briefs on behalf of the case. Following the decision, the organization wrote in a blog post, "A consequence of having a cellphone should not include revealing to curious government agents one’s every movement."
In an increasingly mobile and digital age, many believe several U.S. laws need modernization, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. We expect to see many related cases in the years to come.