The Supreme Court has ruled that the location data served up by mobile phones is also covered by constitutional protections. Related: From Adam Westbrook of The New York Times Opinion Video Featuring NYT columnist Farhad Manjoo and contributing opinion writer Kara Swisher. Location data collection is only one aspect of a surveillance economy that has sneaked into every corner of modern life. In the future, smarter artificial intelligence, safer self-driving cars and better medical care may also rely on location data. So, as Congress considers federal privacy legislation, lawmakers could include measures to prevent the acquisition of location data if such collection isn’t central to the function of the service.

Source: New York Times December 22, 2019 02:03 UTC