A recent circuit split over the constitutionality of geofence warrants has garnered attention from attorneys and privacy professionals. This division underscores an important fact: tech providers may be ahead of the courts when it comes to regulating surveillance technology.
The judicial split stems from contrasting rulings in United States v. Chatrie in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and United States v. Smith in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. These cases examine whether geofence warrants—a type of reverse-search warrant that seeks to access a company’s location data to find a specific device over a specific period—are constitutional.