Judicial Intervention Required to Request Geolocation Information

Court of Criminal Matters and Misdemeanors No. 10 of the City of Buenos Aires found null a report which was issued by a public prosecutor and directed at a telephone company. The report included information about enabled cell sites and the geographic location of a cellphone belonging to an individual under investigation.

Taking into consideration the nature of the information requested by the public prosecutor, the court held that the decision directly affects the constitutional right to privacy and intimacy, the protection of personal data and the right to self-determination in connection with information.

In this regard, the court pointed out the difference between public prosecutors’ authority to request reports on basic data of users who are under investigation, and their authority to request the users’ geographic location, since the latter involves information which is sensitive from a privacy point of view.

In addition, it held that new technologies lead to the development of new ways to commit crimes, which require special investigation techniques and new means of evidence.

One of these new means of evidence is the information obtained from the identifying the cell sites to which a specific cell phone connects. This can show where the cellphone was at different times.

Taking into account rulings issued by the Argentine Supreme Court, as well as a recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, the court highlighted that users have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding the information on their movements that are registered by their cell phones, and stored by the telecommunication companies.

In view of the user’s expectation of privacy, the court ruled that a court order is necessary to obtain geolocation information.