Cell phone location data to remain private

With the issues surrounding location-based services to Facebook barely in last week's mirror, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation comes the announcement that courts must require search warrants for cell phone location records:

This morning, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia issued its highly anticipated ruling in a hotly contested cell phone location privacy case. EFF filed a friend-of-the-court brief and participated at oral argument in the case, arguing that federal electronic privacy law gives judges the discretion to deny government requests for cell phone location data when the government fails to show probable cause that a crime has been committed.

Having been in the wireless industry, there is a plethora of information which should be carefully used by corporations.

Most important to readers is this: Corporate cell phones have a complex protection. My preliminary understanding is that if a corporate cybersecurity worker releases cell phone information to law enforcement without a warrant, this could be considered to be inadmissible and a violation of the employee's Fourth Amendment rights.

More will follow as the case opinion is read.