The requests have also grown more complicated as tech companies have acquired more data and law enforcement has become more technologically sophisticated. “The actual costs of doing wiretaps and responding to search warrants is high, and when you pass those costs on to the government, it deters from excessive surveillance,” he said. In April, The Times reported that Google had been inundated with a new type of search warrant request, known as geofence searches. Drawing on an enormous Google database called Sensorvault, they provide law enforcement with the opportunity to find suspects and witnesses using location data gleaned from user devices. From last January through June, the company received nearly 13,000 subpoenas and over 10,000 search warrants from American law enforcement.

Source: New York Times January 24, 2020 23:03 UTC