Facebook, Apple and Google demanded to limit law enforcement access to user location data

A number of large American technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, Google, Airbnb and Dropbox, sent an appeal to the US Supreme Court with a request to limit the access of US law enforcement agencies to data on the location of smartphone users without appropriate court permission, writes The Verge .

The publication notes that the reason for the appeal was the case of Timothy Carpenter, which the court had previously agreed to consider. Carpenter, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was charged with robbery based on his smartphone's location data, which law enforcement obtained from a third party without court approval. The court must assess the legality of such obtaining information about the whereabouts of a person.

According to Kommersant , the signatories of the company's appeal are confident that the Supreme Court should consider some provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and detentions.

"The provisions of the Fourth Amendment must be adapted to these new realities. The Court should clarify the application of certain provisions of the Fourth Amendment to ensure that the law interacts with Internet technologies in accordance with the real situation and the expectations of the people," the statement said.

Carpenter's case and the companies' arguments are expected to be heard in early fall.

It should be noted that large IT companies often defend the privacy of their users. So, in July last year, the appeals court in New York sided with Microsoft, deciding that it is not obliged to transfer to the US authorities electronic correspondence of users that are stored on servers located outside the country.