{"id":316,"date":"2018-06-18T13:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T17:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=316"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:27:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:27:27","slug":"supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Backs Privacy for Cell Phone Users"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme court recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/17pdf\/16-402_h315.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bolstered<\/a> personal privacy protections for anyone who owns a cell phone. The court\u2019s new 5-4 ruling also clarifies some important safeguards for anyone facing Florida criminal charges (or elsewhere). The justices said that law enforcement officers generally need a warrant before they can obtain and search records showing when and where calls take place.\u201cAlthough such records are generated for commercial purposes, that distinction does not negate [Defendant]\u2019s anticipation of privacy in his physical location,\u201d the court said in a majority opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts. \u201cMapping a cell phone\u2019s location over the course of 127 days provides an all-encompassing record of the holder\u2019s whereabouts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Defendant was charged with six counts of robbery and another six firearms offenses for his alleged role as the leader of a string of robberies. Prosecutors used cell tower records\u2014showing Defendant\u2019s whereabouts over the span of 127 days\u2014to try to show that Defendant was in the area where the crimes happened when the crimes happened. A trial judge allowed the prosecutors to enter the cell tower data as evidence, and Defendant was later convicted. A federal appeals court affirmed the decision.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/#more-316\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme court recently bolstered personal privacy protections for anyone who owns a cell phone. The court\u2019s new 5-4 ruling also clarifies some important safeguards for anyone facing Florida criminal charges (or elsewhere). The justices said that law enforcement officers generally need a warrant before they can obtain and search records showing when and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dui"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Supreme Court Backs Cell Phone Privacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Worried about police searching your phone? Learn how the U.S. Supreme Court strengthened privacy rights for cell phone users.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Supreme Court Backs Cell Phone Privacy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Worried about police searching your phone? Learn how the U.S. Supreme Court strengthened privacy rights for cell phone users.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/supreme-court-cell-phone-privacy-ruling-gavel-and-smartphone.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Supreme Court Backs Cell Phone Privacy","description":"Worried about police searching your phone? 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Learn how the U.S. Supreme Court strengthened privacy rights for cell phone users.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/supreme-court-cell-phone-privacy-ruling-gavel-and-smartphone.webp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"headline":"Supreme Court Backs Privacy for Cell Phone Users","datePublished":"2018-06-18T17:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T13:27:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/"},"wordCount":548,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/supreme-court-cell-phone-privacy-ruling-gavel-and-smartphone.webp","articleSection":["DUI"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/","name":"Supreme Court Backs Cell Phone Privacy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/supreme-court-backs-privacy-for-cell-phone-users\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/supreme-court-cell-phone-privacy-ruling-gavel-and-smartphone.webp","datePublished":"2018-06-18T17:00:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T13:27:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"description":"Worried about police searching your phone? 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