Sound the privacy alarm! Police get search warrant for everyone who Googled a certain name [View all]

[True Dough]

This is from Edina, Minnesota, a community of about 50,000 people. The idea that this could become a common practice is certainly cause for concern. You could become a suspect just by virtue of having typed a name in a search engine.

A search warrant issued to Edina police to collect information on people who used certain search terms on Google is raising concerns about constitutional violations.

Privacy law experts say that the warrant — issued to find a suspect in an attempted identity and credit theft of an Edina resident — is based on an unusually broad definition of probable cause that would be troubling if it became widespread.

“This kind of warrant is cause for concern because it’s closer to these dragnet searches that the Fourth Amendment is designed to prevent,” said William McGeveran, a law professor at the University of Minnesota.

Issued by Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson in early February, the warrant looks at anyone who searched variations of the resident’s name on Google from Dec. 1 through Jan. 7.

http://www.startribune.com/search-warrant-issued-to-edina-police-raises-privacy-concerns-of-internet-users/416442113/