Digital Location Tracking

A cell phone’s location can be detected through cell site location information (CSLI) or global positioning system (GPS) data. CSLI refers to the information collected as a cell phone identifies its location to nearby cell towers.

Geofence

 

Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs)

 

Stingray

 

Packet Sniffer

Tower Dump

Real-Time CSLI (E911)

Resources

                                                         

Video Trainings

Unwarranted Access: New York State Geolocation Ban


This webinar from May 28, 2020 featured Dan Quart, Assembly Member for the 73rd District of New York, and Michael Price, Senior Litigation Counsel for NACDL’s Fourth Amendment Center. 

Examining the Practical Limits and Privacy Risks of Technical Systems to Combat the Pandemic


This webinar from May 13, 2020 featured Catherine Crump, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley, School of Law, and Daniel Kahn Gillmor, Senior Staff Technologist for the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.

Algorithms and Criminal Justice - Litigating the Black Box 


This program from November 29-30, 2018 featured Stephanie Lacambra, Assistant District Attorney with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, Rashida Richardson, Visiting Scholar at Rutgers Law School and the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and the Law, and Andrea Roth, Professor of Law at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

The Third-Party Doctrine and Location Tracking After Carpenter 


This program from November 29-30, 2018 featured Megan Graham, Clinical Supervising Attorney in the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley, School of Law, Hon. Stephen Smith, Director of Fourth Amendment & Open Courts at Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, and Nathan Freed Wessler, Staff Attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.

Location Privacy after Carpenter

This program from July 2, 2018 featured Laura Moy, Deputy Director, Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, Professor Sibren Isaacman, Cellular Network Data Expert at Loyola University Maryland, Nathan Freed Wessler, Staff Attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, Professor Laura Donohue at Georgetown Law, Professor Stephanie Pell at West Point’s Army Cyber Institute, Alvaro Bedoya, Executive Director, Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, Matt Mitchell, Digital Safety and Privacy Expert, Jason Downs, Partner at Downs Collins, Todd Hesel with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, and Jumana Musa, Director of NACDL's Fourth Amendment Center.

 

Other Resources

Need help with a digital location tracking case?


The Center is available to provide consultations and litigation resources as well as direct assistance in support of a defendant’s Fourth Amendment claims. Specifically, the Center may assist in motion practice, preparation for suppression hearings, appellate strategy, brief writing, and oral argument. The Center also provides group trainings for defense lawyers around the country and upon request.

To request assistance or additional information, contact 4AC@nacdl.org.

Explore keywords to find information

Featured Products