Orin S. Kerr | 12.13.2023 6:42 PM

I wrote last week about an oral argument in the Fourth Circuit involving geofence warrants. Geofence warrants are warrants to obtain the location data that Google users let Google collect if they opt in to Google's location history service, which about a third of Google users do. Geofence warrants have been possible because, if you opt in, Google keeps a copy of the location history. And records are kept can be compelled, at least if the legal process is valid.

All of which makes this Google announcement from yesterday of great interest. Google will no longer keep location history even for the users who opted in to have it turned on. Instead, the location history will only be kept on the user's phone.

The Timeline feature in Maps helps you remember places you've been and is powered by a setting called Location History. If you're among the subset of users who have chosen to turn Location History on (it's off by default), soon your Timeline will be saved right on your device — giving you even........

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