When if your settings are private, some agencies use software to surveil social networks or set up fake accounts allowing them to access the private side of your feed. Otherwise, they would need a warrant to see what you have blocked from public view. However, some of your digital presence does not require a warrant for police to gain access, including the following:
- Your call history is fair game because the courts consider it business records, not private records.
- Privacy laws do not protect emails, photos and other documents older than 180 days that you store in the cloud.
- Police can obtain any text messages that your service provider stores beyond 180 days.
- Investigators don’t need a warrant to gain the tower dump that uses your cell phone’s GPS to reveal the history of the times and locations where you travel with your cell phone.
Using tower dumps and IP address histories, police can place you in the area of a crime or with someone who has criminal associations. It is more common these days for investigators to string together circumstantial evidence from the digital information they gather and build a convincing case. This is why having a strong defense strategy is crucial when facing any criminal charges. While friends and family may offer reasonable advice, your best advantage is to seek the counsel of an experienced Pennsylvania legal professional.
