Big Brother Surveillance:  Growing Use of Geofence Warrants Imperils Civil Liberties

            Recent court filings reveal that Google, by means of its Location History function that many Google users (often unknowingly) opt into, has tracked and recorded extensive location data for over 500 million people.  Few of us are aware our location histories are being tracked and recorded in this way.  Law enforcement agencies, state and federal, however, are keenly aware of it, and are making increasing use of this information to support criminal prosecutions by what are often called “geofence warrants.”  Governmental use of geofence warrants has increased exponentially in the last several years — from about 20 a week in 2018 to over 250 a week in 2020, and rising steeply.

These geofence warrants present a grave danger to Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. Moreover, as law enforcement agencies often employ the warrants in connection with large public protests or assemblies — the January 6 events, for example — the warrants also imperil Americans’ First Amendment rights of speech and assembly.

The geofence warrants typically proceed in three stages, each of questionable constitutional validity.

First,  in what might be called the “dragnet” step, law enforcement uses legal process to compel Google to disclose an anonymized list of all Google user accounts for which there is saved Location History information indicating that the Google users’ mobile devices were present in a defined geographic area during a defined timeframe.  Notably, Google has acknowledged that the information it provides in response to this initial dragnet step is merely a probabilistic estimate and is only 68% likely to be accurate.

Second, the government reviews the anonymized dragnet production and then, if it wishes, can compel Google to provide additional location information beyond the time and geographic scope of the original request.

Finally, the government goes for the kill:  it compels Google to provide account-identifying information for the anonymized device numbers that it determines are relevant to its investigation.  Armed with this information, the government can then obtain yet other even more intrusive warrants, e.g., to seize and examine the contents of the account holder’s cell phone and/or search his or her house and papers.

The Department of Justice’s use of geofence warrants in connection with its arrest and prosecution of David Rhine, one of the January 6 defendants, illustrates how a geofence warrant operates in practice.  One week after the January 6 events, the DOJ sought and obtained a geofence warrant compelling Google to identify all mobile devices within the approximate four-acre area surrounding and including the Capitol Building between 2 pm and 6 pm on January 6.  The DOJ’s warrant application essentially relied on a “wrong place, wrong time, therefore likely guilty of a crime” assumption, stating that “because of the pandemic [and] the security surrounding the Capitol . . . there will probably be no tourists or bystanders to be found in any of this data.”  For this first step of the warrant process, Google identified 5,653 unique Device IDs that “were or could have been” within the geofence.  For the second step, Google, at the court’s instruction, eliminated 335 devices that were in the geofence area shortly before and shortly after the 2-6 pm timeframe on the assumption these belonged to legislators and staff, leaving 5, 518 unique devices under the DOJ’s suspicion.

In step 3, the DOJ sought and obtained from Google subscriber information — the phone number, google account, and other identifying information — for all devices that were within the geofence for even a single moment, again equating presence to criminality. By this means, the DOJ obtained Mr. Rhine’s Google account information and from this information was able, it asserted, to determine his estimated path of travel within the geofence. The DOJ then cobbled together another warrant application, which was granted, using the geofence information and weak, second-hand tips from an unnamed tipster, to search Rhine’s home and any phone or other digital device found with him.  Based on all these searches, Rhine was arrested on November 9, 2021 and now faces trial on multiple counts, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

What is constitutionally objectionable about geofence warrants?  The answer is simple:  Geofence warrants satisfy neither the probable cause nor particularity requirements the Fourth Amendment demands.  Geofence warrants fail these requirements because they closely resemble the general warrants (general warrants, in essence, describe a crime but lack individualized description of suspects who may have committed the crime) that have been condemned throughout American constitutional history.  Indeed, the British Crown’s use of general warrants against the sharp-tongued pro-American John Wilkes in 1763 aroused such popular indignation that the Wilkes case became a cause celeb and was a major influence in the formation of the Fourth Amendment.  In keeping with this tradition, the Supreme Court in its 1979 Ybarra v. Illinois case held that probable cause must be based on individualized facts, not group probabilities.  The Court has also struck down indiscriminate checkpoint searches.

The DOJ, in arguing for validation of the geofence warrants in the January 6 cases, presented to the court evidence (also extracted from Google) that in the week after January 6 many of the targeted Google accounts deleted their location histories. This, the government contended, was evidence of guilt. To those of us who watch with alarm our government’s increasingly lawless behavior, the deletion of the location histories more credibly reflects an understandable distrust of a government willing to commandeer Big Tech data — and executives — to serve unconstitutional purposes.

Reprinted with permission from the American Free Press.
Glen Allen is an attorney and founder of the FREE EXPRESSION FOUNDATION, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation dedicated to the defense of citizens denied their Constitutional right to free expression See more at Free Expression Foundation,org,  or write FEF, PO Box 65242, Baltimore, MD 21209-9998

21 replies
  1. K M Landis
    K M Landis says:

    I refuse to own (or use) a television, a smart phone or any crypto-currency. I value my independence and freedom. I don’t want the regime to frame me on bogus charges. Television is the Electric Jew – all lies, porn, and woke propaganda, to brainwash the masses.

    I don’t understand why anyone would carry a smart phone while traveling outside the home, and especially when attending a public demonstration. They are expensive, on the order of $500 to $1000. They can easily be lost or stolen. They are an invitation for muggers.

    And now this article informs us that the regime can use something called “Google Location History” to get a “geofence warrant,” which it uses to frame innocent citizens on politically motived charges. Great! One more reason not to get an iPhone.

    • Tim Folke
      Tim Folke says:

      Same here. Got rid of the TV in 1979. Never had the other items you mention.

      Aside from the filth you cited on TV, I believe the greater threat is subliminal messaging from the TV. There is a much, much greater danger in what you don’t know you are watching than what you think you are watching.

      TV is owned by our enemies, and it is the apotheosis of our folk’s gullibility that so many of us not only watch TV but actually pay for the ‘privilege’ of doing so!

    • Bobby
      Bobby says:

      “Television is the electric Jew.”

      Ha ha, I love that KM. I’m the same as you btw, I haven’t owned a television for years now.

    • Darryl P Duncan
      Darryl P Duncan says:

      As a White man born in Nashville in 1963 and imprisoned in 1982 and having been made to live in prisons all across the U.S. all of my life until 2017 I can tell you there is no honesty in any of our legal departments. It is entirely a business of slavery, selectively protecting the worst criminals in each city of the U.S. while imprisoning the rest of us on manufactured charges. They have been allowed to return guilty verdicts since 1980 without proof of guilt which forces everyone to sign plea bargains for lesser sentence lengths. Our laws have price tags for certain laws that say any crime is not a crime. District Attorneys pay off others with sentence reductions to say “I heard him say he did it” and, our Hearsay Laws were thrown out in the late 70s which allows the courts to call any accuser a witness. This accusation alone allows for imprisonments. I have seen people I know in Humboldt TN never see a jail cell though they committed great crimes and one was told to join the army. He had robbed the military of firearms and ran a burglary ring and a lot else with the son of the city attorney in Jackson TN but he became 101st Airborne when caught for his crimes. I know the sons and daughters of the Chevy and Ford dealerships whom had been bringing cocaine across the Mexican border since the 70s and they never saw a jail cell though caught. Our laws are written by the currency creator. If a White man issued his own creation of currency we could imprison every Jew on earth lawfully.

  2. Heinrich Metelmann
    Heinrich Metelmann says:

    I do not understand why judges allow such infringements on the constitutional rights of American citizens. Are they too liberal ? Were most of these judges named by Democratic Presidents or other Democratic Holders of office ? What happened to the Rule of Law ? Why is the Rule of Law so blatantly ignored ? If this continues, I see no future for our Western Civilization. The situation seems to get worse every year. The smartphone is one of the major culprits in the erosion of our rights. When Steve Jobs introduced the IPhone in 2005, he declared the world would never be the same. He was right. I wonder if he knew how profoundly right he was going to be?

    • RockaBoatus
      RockaBoatus says:

      When I was cop (now retired), I sat through many trials and testified in court more times than I could count. From my experience, most of the judges were very liberal and some of them blatantly sided with the perpetrators (especially so if they were Black and Hispanic). People forget these judges attend very liberal colleges and universities, and that same liberalism is reinforced in whatever training they receive in law school.

      I’ve lost all trust in the judges. Sure, some judges might go against the grain – particularly if they are in a rural and conservative county – but if they are in big cities, forget about it!

      I remember at our police roll calls how myself and other officers would laugh and mock the judges because they gave light jail sentences or none at all in some cases for hardened criminals that we had continuously arrested. The older officers realized something the newer officers hadn’t yet realized – namely, that America’s criminal justice system largely works against the American people in terms of distributing true justice to offenders.

      Here’s another thing: In all my years as a cop, there were only a small handful of occasions in court where there was any genuine concern about the victim. The judges seemed more preoccupied with clearing their calendars and grinding out quick judgments to move the process forward. The victim often took a back seat. Rarely was there any real monetary compensation to the victim. The victim was expected to complain with no expectation of restitution.

      A good many judges are prohibited from giving too many lengthy jail sentences because county facilities are filled or because it’s too costly to house these prisoners. The result is a quick release of these criminals back into society where they can victimize even more people.

      When I was a cop, I openly told people that the criminal justice system was not just broken, but utterly decimated in terms of dispensing justice to criminals (except in rare cases). I also urged many of the sheeple to purchase a handgun, learn how to use it properly as well as know the laws of the state rather than completely rely on police to protect them. I told them that in most cases the police would arrive AFTER the crime was committed. I had to be tactful in how I said it, of course. As one might expect, many of the sheeple were perplexed by what I told them. Their little brains couldn’t handle such realities.

      • Troy Mar
        Troy Mar says:

        Yes it seems to be their modus operandi for most countries. Here in Cairns Australia we have their imports from Africa, Indonesia as well as our Aboriginals who continually steal our stuff without punishment. One method they tried was to send the thieves on reef fishing trips as punishment/rehabilitation. Yes, what a complete joke these commie/freemasonic/Jews are! One judge even commented that it was best to release them back into society as it is better for hastening the equality process. Needless to say I too have lost all faith in our justice system. We cannot shoot thieves over here (unfortunately) so all we can do is get bigger dogs.

      • Heinrich Metelmann
        Heinrich Metelmann says:

        RockaBoatus,
        I have no difficulty believing you. Here is the perfect formula for the destruction of the Western world: A leftist liberal judicial system “applying” the laws enacted by a leftist liberal legislative Congress, the whole, managed by an extremely leftist, woke executive branch represented by Joe Biden.

        With a disastrous triumvirate in power, I was convinced that the midterms were going to bring about a major landslide in Congress in favor of the GOP. I was wrong. And this is utterly scary.

        • John D. Alder
          John D. Alder says:

          I have zero confidence in republicans to get us out of this mess. Remember it was Ronald Reagan who granted amnesty to millions of illegals so the republicans are just one of two wings attached to the same bird. Look at the fiasco taking place today regarding the vote for house speaker. 😆

  3. Bobby
    Bobby says:

    Thank you Glenn for this very informative piece and also for all of the work you do for our cause.

    Don’t know if there’s any truth to it but I’ve heard that even if you turn off google location history, and even if you turn off your phone while traveling, as long as it’s a smart phone, google can somehow track your every move anyway.

  4. joe
    joe says:

    this news is old hat. if you visit websites like this, you’ve been tagged. your car is gps tracked, your internet hacked, and phone monitored, regardless whether its smart or not. everything about you goes in a file for use later. the country has been taken over by the (((enemy))). only the formation of a new political party, modeled after the german nsdap, complete with paramilitary arm, to protect it, will have any effect. why anyone still believes were living in anything other than a corrupt, mass murdering, psyopolis locked in centuries of debt, is insane.

    • John Alder
      John Alder says:

      You are so right! National Socialism is our best hope. Moderates and kosher conservatives offer us zero hope.

    • moneytalks
      moneytalks says:

      …” why anyone still believes were living in anything other than a corrupt, mass murdering, psyopolis locked in centuries of debt, is insane.”

      They appear to be insane because they have not yet and may never be emancipated from their globalist ILLuminati jewmasterss ultra Mind Kontrol enslavement matrix consisting first and foremost of predominant ownership/control of global media conglomerates employed to control the worldly publics with virtually unavoidable propaganda narratives via TV , radio , books , magazines , websites , and so on ; whereby popular [ reality ] of the worldwide sheeple masses is largely determined by commonly held mass perceptions created by the matrix on behalf of the jewish owners/controllers .

      The jewmasterss captured every state education establishment via U.S. Dept. of Ed ; they captured judicial establishments via blackmail ; they captured political establishments via bribery and corruption of elections , and so on .

      Preachers did not and do not preach it ,
      teachers did not and do not teach it ,
      and politicians did not and do not screech it
      to the masses ;
      there are two basic kinds of people —
      masters and slaves ;
      where most people are sheeple
      which is a euphemism for people with
      a slave mentality of inordinate or irrational consummate subservience to an imperfect master .

      The Mind Kontrol enslavement matrix consists of more or less interconnected and thereby interwoven threads of good info , bad info , and propaganda narratives for controlling the majority of primarily , but not exclusively , sheeple thought processes and especially for controlling their political opinions and beliefs .

      The entire matrix complex is a more or less synergistic aggregate of subordinate establishments such as churches , synagogues , mosques , schools and especially universities , political parties , and established governmental agencies such as the NSA , CIA , FBI , MIC establishments , corporate media global conglomerates and last but not least secret societies which are default named ILLuminati . They all are to various degrees effectively agents of the sublime ultra enslavement matrix which is ruled at the top by the RCC Vatican Pope and the associated British monarch and associated Lord Rothschild .

      Jewmasterss discovered a long , long time ago

      [ that enslavement of humanity is the safest , most profitable , and most secure way-of-life for themselves and also for much of their captured sheeple and perhaps even most of them ] .

      The slave master jews have known ,

      since the entirely successful subversion

      ( by the judaism founder and
      Tower slave worker Abraham and
      his merry band of fellow subversive ToB slaves )

      of the world renown ancient biblical Tower of Babel engineering project ,

      how to dissolve the cohesive bonding functions of the workplace vernacular , of any collective project or politicly significant group activity involving five or more people , by injecting linguistic confusions into it

      ( ref: The Holy Jewish Torah / KJV /
      Book of Genesis / chapter 11 / verses 1-9 ;
      which is the historic record of the Tower of Babel incident along with pertinent Wikipedia articles ) .

      The subversion and effective conquest of the USA , by globalist ILLuminati jewmasterss , was initiated by injecting language confusions

      ( such as those manifested in
      the Scofield Bible for instance ) ,

      in addition to any which often may already intrinsicly exist ,

      into the Nordic/White/Occidental KJV religious vernacular to weaken cultural cohesions and instigate fragmentations and stoke both internal and external conflicts .

      The public including also Nordics were prevented from overtly initiating ad hoc street organizations in New York City , for instance , to defend themselves against excessive enslavements pursuant to new totalitarian Patriot Act regulations in response to the 911 suspected false flag World Towers demolition ; and also to prevent Nordics in particular from organizing a counteroffensive against the suspected globalist ILLuminati 911 hijackers of the USA federal political establishment .

      Most enslavement operations are either subtle or sublime political processes that are effectively concealed or camouflaged so that
      Westernworld Nordics ,
      most of whom are Christianized by
      a sheeple-oriented religion of self-enslavement to the chosenhite jewmasterss ,
      in addition to being Christianized
      are also culturally politicly retarded
      ( not a reference to
      their relatively high average IQ )
      and have very little if any awareness
      of their enslavements nor concern about it .

  5. Strange World
    Strange World says:

    In this episode of her ARTE series “With Eyes Wide Open” devlish presenter Sonia Devillers (born 1976) declares a photo from Denver to be quasi iconic, on which “women protest against being enslaved into childbearing machines”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TC2rLTElP8

    Millions of abortions a year, i.e. the deliberate killing of growing human beings in the womb, is a “human right” that is grossly violated in America. This should not be, of course; euthanasia of healthy white children is not a crime at all.

    For a given occasion, Ms. Devillers has omitted from this interview the perfect make-up she wears on ARTE, because this is a subject that does not require a young self-confident woman, but a Jewess as a victim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmnXky2JRw0

    Jews as victims of commism? As far as I know, Jews not only invented communism, but established it as a system of power all over the world. As in the days of its bloody “revolutions” (in the name of a “classless society”), they are still today among the main pragandists of this utopian madness. https://westobserver.com/news/europe/the-exported-by-sonia-devillers-human-barter-in-communist-romania/

  6. Darryl P Duncan
    Darryl P Duncan says:

    The system is set up to allow for the genocide of us Whites and replacing us through The Federal Reserve Act of 1913. This currency law was signed into effect by President Woodrow Wilson on December 24th 1913 while Congress were in their homes celebrating the Christmas holidays. Congress had already rejected this currency law. Once it was signed though all Congressmen and our Presidents began serving in the employ of the Jews that signed it. The Rothschild family is the currency creator and there were 5 families of Rothschild’s living in each of the countries of America, France, Italy, England and Germany at the enactment. They simply take worthless paper and give it the value they choose which when issued as the currency allows them control of all job positions. They determine the value given to human life as well as the value of gold, oil and everything else. It is a top to bottom control of all job positions; one of employer to employee. If the banks were ever made to stop issuing their creation of currency then every law these people have written becomes null & void at that moment. No one, no police, would be serving in their employ any longer. At that time a new currency creator would seize control of the police and military. The currency creator writes the laws of the land.

  7. Strange World
    Strange World says:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUF1_(channel)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wochenblick

    Austrian Wochenblick recently ceased publication. The economic situation of the publishing house did not permit any other decision. This demonstrates what the problems of nonconformist journalism are: The vast majority of the population does not consume media in order to be exposed to politics that are perceived as critical. They are interested exclusively in light forms of entertainment that cost a lot of money. The private media landscape is the preserve of a small number of billion-dollar corporations.

    Wochenblick has been a niche project. Non-conformist journalism is the preserve of a handful of politically motivated idealists who, despite the economic hopelessness of their activities, simply carry on and know how to settle into a world in which, due to a lack of reach, large advertising contracts, on which the media industry lives, are not in the cards for the very long term. Moreover, they have to fight permanently against defamations of the (((system))) as “conspiracy theorists” and the like.

    Interesting in this context that the last day the very good website The New Observer (TNO) was online was January 7, 2021, a historically significant date. It’s a pity, because the creators of the website followed a concept of informative high-quality articles. The high number of captures in the Wayback Machine to date shows continued interest despite the discontinuation. https://web.archive.org/web/20210107044916/http://newobserveronline.com/

  8. Strange World
    Strange World says:

    While Hitler’s “Germania” only made it to a miniature version in papier-mâché, the constructional megalomania of our Neolithic ancestors can still be marveled at today. A beautiful snapshot at the right moment: Comet “Neowise” 2020 above or behind Stonehenge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_NEOWISE

    https://i.ibb.co/XsPTjp4/NEOWISE-Stonehenge.jpg

    This month we will again receive a rare visit from outerspace.
    https://www.space.com/comet-2022-e3-ztf-possible-naked-eye-visibility-2023
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2022_E3_(ZTF)

    Demand from the Senate: Berlin should hand over Nefertiti and Pergamon Altar

    Nefertiti and the Pergamon Altar: Berlin should give its most famous art treasures to Egypt and Turkey, a senate politician demands. Both works are legally located on the Museum Island.

    The Berlin State Secretary for Diversity and Anti-Discrimination, Saraya Gomis (Left), has demanded that the bust of Nefertiti and the Pergamon Altar be removed from the capital’s museums. The two ancient treasures, on display on Museum Island, have been among the capital’s biggest tourist attractions.

    Gomis wants not only these famous exhibits to be given to Egypt and Turkey. Rather, all foreign exhibits should go to the countries of origin: “From an anti-discrimination perspective, one must say: all the cultural goods from other regions of the world do not belong to us, they are here illegally,” she claimed to the Tagesspiegel.

    Nefertiti is the most famous work of art on display at the New Museum. The monumental Pergamon Altar is not only the namesake of the neighboring Pergamon Museum, but the reason the building was constructed in the first place.

    How Nefertiti and the Pergamon Altar came to Berlin

    Both works are rightfully owned by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which runs the museums. According to the foundation, the bust of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s wife, dating from around 1350 B.C., was found and legally exported as part of an excavation authorized by Egypt in 1912/13. At that time, a customary division of the find had been agreed upon. This was documented, processed and published.

    The individual parts and friezes of the Pergamon Altar were also uncovered in an excavation approved by the government of the Ottoman Empire between 1878 and 1886 – as was the acropolis of Pergamon. Turkey’s predecessor state and the German Empire agreed in a division of finds that the altar could be brought to Berlin and displayed there.

    If the state government nevertheless returns the two art treasures to the countries where German scientists excavated them, this would be a voluntary act under the new “anti-discrimination policy.” Neither Egypt nor Turkey have a legal claim to it. Before Christmas, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and State Secretary for Culture (both Greens) had personally brought 20 so-called Benin bronzes, which had been on display in German museums for 120 years, to Nigeria.

    https://taketonews.com/berlins-state-secretary-wants-to-return-nefertitis-bust/

  9. Strange World
    Strange World says:

    PS-Christmas Special, this time accom-
    panied by song “Eine Muh, eine Mäh”.
    https://therightstuff.biz/2022/12/25/prussian-socialism-christmas-special-why-a-mass-movement/

    Cute https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Eine_Muh%2C_eine_M%C3%A4h

    Amazing, no Negro kid among them
    (that’s probably why 8 million clicks).
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX8LqZ9_8RI

    In the English-language version, however,
    they had to put the “neo-British” Negro kids
    in costumes so as not to scare the audience.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzAcoBbAGzI

    Viking girl Anita https://youtu.be/mvTmAthvQ44
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apP9VsTo01s&list=OLAK5uy_lMEpH6Xz7YX1mUhA_ne4dOWMoh8KFitBk

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Hegerland
    Where, then, is the “king” we are all urgently
    waiting for, Anita? All I can see so far are pic-
    tures in the dark. I see, time has still not come.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8eOQ5Yyjow
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRSORpBnCz4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpiSLi6MGLA

  10. SimpleMale
    SimpleMale says:

    A very informative article. What I find interesting though is if so many laws and a constitution are even required to “protect” citizens from each other, that means that the citizens are already genetically finished. If a race/nation was genetically healthy and united, they would not even need any laws and a constitution, since every citizen would instinctively and intellectually regulate their actions with the goal of promoting the collective well-being and advancement of the entire race. What does it say about the genetics of a nation when you need laws telling you that it is illegal to kill, it is illegal to steal, it is illegal to rape, it is illegal to engage in fraud against another citizen, it is illegal to vandalize other people’s property, it is illegal to pollute, it is illegal to assault someone, it is illegal to bring a child into the world and then abandon it, etc. People who write the kinds of articles like the above are often very Libertarian / Individual Selection oriented, so they think we need many laws to ensure each citizen leaves every other citizen alone and just lets each other do their own thing, follow their own Individually Selected evolutionary paths. They don’t seem to understand that if you live in a nation that actually requires so many laws, then it’s not even a nation to being with.

    • moneytalks
      moneytalks says:

      ” What does it say about the genetics of a nation when you need laws telling you that it is illegal to kill,”… [ ? ]

      It says that laws/rules governing the behavior of human organisms are not the same thing as laws/rules manifest in “genes” that govern the reproduction of human organisms .

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