Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast

This episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast delves into the use of location technology in two big events—the surprisingly outspoken lockdown protests in China and the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Both were seen as big threats to the government, and both produced aggressive police responses that relied heavily on government access to phone location data. Jamil Jaffer and Mark MacCarthy walk us through both stories and respond to the provocative question, what’s the difference? Jamil’s answer (and mine, for what it’s worth) is that the U.S. government gained access to location information from Google only after a multi-stage process meant to protect innocent users’ information, and that there is now a court case that will determine whether the government actually did protect users whose privacy should not have been invaded.  Whether we should be relying on Google’s made-up and self-protective rules for access to location data is a separate question. It becomes more pointed as Silicon Valley has started making