Google's Android controls a majority of the smartphone market, and even most users who run iPhones use apps like Google Maps and Gmail. Moreover, Google frequently has GPS data that places a user's phone to within a few metersmuch more accurate than the tower location data law enforcement can get from wireless providers.
In one case last year, Google was required to hand over information about almost 1,500 users to federal investigators working on a Wisconsin arson case.
That would force governments to be more discriminating when they ask Google or other technology and wireless companies for data about their customers' locations.
Officials in the Greater Chicago area were investigating a case in which stolen pharmaceuticals were sold on the black market.
To help them identify the suspect, investigators asked Google for data about every smartphone that was near these two locations during particular 45-minute windows of timeone window at the first location and two other windows on different days at the second location.
When that application was rejected as too broad, the government narrowed its request to compact polygons right around the buildings.
On the other hand, tower-based location data is less precise than GPS data, so courts might view this as a less serious intrusion into privacy.
Original article