On April 13, an American daily newspaper published on its website explaining how police in the US turn to Google for assistance in investigating crimes where there are no other methods left to search for witnesses and suspects.
The article tells the story of Jorge Molina — a simple warehouse worker accused of murder committed in December 2018 in a suburb of Phoenix, the capital and largest city of Arizona, USA. The basis for his arrest was data obtained from Google showing that Jorge's phone was located at the crime scene, as well as surveillance footage capturing the suspected killer's vehicle — a white Honda identical to Jorge's, although the license plates and driver were impossible to distinguish from the recording.
After his arrest, Molina told officers that Marcos Gaeta, his mother's ex-boyfriend, sometimes borrowed his car. The Times uncovered a document revealing that Gaeta, 38, was driving this car without a license. Gaeta also had a lengthy criminal record. While Jorge was in jail, his girlfriend told his public defender — Jack Litvack — that she was with Molina at his home during the shooting; they also provided from Uber to support his alibi. Jorge's home, where he lives with his mother and three siblings, is located about two miles from the murder scene. Litvack stated that his investigation also revealed that Molina occasionally accessed other people's phones to check his Google account. This could have resulted in Google showing him in multiple locations, though it is unclear if this happened in this instance. After spending nearly a week in jail, Jorge Molina was released while police arrested Marcos Gaeta. Jorge reported that during his arrest, he lost his job, and it would likely take him a long time to mentally recover.
The geolocation data that led to Jorge's arrest was obtained by the Arizona police after receiving a warrant from a local court, requiring Google to provide information about all devices that were near the crime scene at the specified time. For such requests, a massive database called Sensorvault is used, turning the business of tracking users' mobile phone locations for advertising purposes into a convenient tool for law enforcement. In an era of widespread data collection by tech companies, this is yet another example of how personal information— where you go, who your friends are, what you read, eat, and watch, and when you do these things— is used for purposes most people wouldn't even think of. As questions of personal information privacy have come to the forefront among users, politicians, and regulators, tech companies have faced increased scrutiny of their data collection practices.
According to Google employees, the murder case in Arizona illustrates both the prospects and dangers of a new investigative method that has surged in use over the past six months. On one hand, it can help solve crimes; on the other, it can also lead to the persecution of innocent people. Tech companies have been responding to court orders regarding specific users' information for years. New requests go significantly further, aiding in the search for potential suspects and witnesses in the absence of other evidence. Often, Google employees say, the company responds to one warrant with a request for location information about dozens or even hundreds of devices at once.
Law enforcement officials described the new method as impressive, but warned that it is just one of the tools at their disposal. "It doesn't provide an answer like a telegram that says that guy is guilty," said Gary Ernsdorf, a senior prosecutor in Washington State who has worked on several cases involving such warrants. "Potential suspects must be thoroughly vetted," he added. "We are not going to accuse anyone just because Google said they were near the crime scene."
This year, according to one Google employee, the company received 180 requests per week for user geolocation data. Google declined to confirm specific numbers, but this clearly illustrates a phenomenon that privacy advocates have long referred to as the principle of "if you build it, they will come to use it," meaning that whenever a tech company creates a system that can be used for surveillance, law enforcement will inevitably arrive with requests to use it. Sensorvault, according to Google employees, contains detailed records of location and movements, including data from at least hundreds of millions of devices worldwide and dating back nearly a decade, as there are no limits on data retention.
Nevertheless, the new method of searching for suspects is used quite cautiously in official settings. Requests, sometimes referred to as 'geolocation warrants', define the area of search and the time period that interests police officers. The warrant itself requires judicial approval, after which Google collects information from Sensorvault about all devices that were present at the specified location and time. The company tags them with anonymous identification numbers, and detectives review locations and movement patterns of the devices to determine if they, or more specifically their owners, have any connection to the crime. Once the police identify several devices that they believe belong to suspects or witnesses, they can, after a renewed court request, obtain the usernames and other personal information. The procedure may vary by state and, for example, may require only one approach to a judge.
Investigators who spoke with The New York Times reported that they do not send similar requests to other companies besides Google. For instance, Apple stated that it cannot fulfill such warrants for technical reasons. Google does not provide detailed information about Sensorvault, but Aaron Idens, an intelligence analyst from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office in California, who analyzed data from hundreds of phones, claims that most Android devices and some iPhones he has seen regularly send location data to Google.
Brian McClendon, who led the development of Google Maps and related products until 2015, shared that he and other engineers assumed the police would request data only for specific individuals. According to him, the new methodology 'looks nothing more than a fishing expedition.'
Source: 3dnews.ru
