Police solve crime thanks to Google, causing concern in the US

The American Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the nonprofit Digital Rights group EFF recently filed a lawsuit against the police for being provided with personal data from Google to solve crimes, affecting the rights of service users.

The records confirm that the exploitation of Google search history has been going on for years and has been documented across the United States.

The group cited the case of a Pennsylvania woman who was sexually assaulted in 2016, where authorities asked Google’s parent company Alphabet to share information about people in the area who had searched for the victim’s name and address in the past week. Google then sent the exact data to a suspect who eventually pleaded guilty.

Police also investigated the same way about the fire that killed a family of five, which shocked the state of Colorado in 2020. As a result, three teenagers were forced to plead guilty, one of whom admitted to starting the fire because he suspected the victim had stolen his iPhone.

Tracing Google search history to solve crimes raises privacy concerns in the US. Photo: Fox News

Solving crimes based on exploiting the search history on the Google application takes place in three steps and is increasingly applied. First, the police use the "geofencing" technique to determine the location and time of the crime and draw a virtual circle around it. Next, they file a petition with the local court asking Google to provide relevant data such as browsing history, search keywords, travel history recorded on the map application of devices containing online accounts in the area. The police then research and select the most suspicious subjects.

Michael Price, president of the American Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said law enforcement may see this as the easiest way to crack a case. If Google agrees to cooperate once, it will be difficult for them to refuse again.

Google received 60,472 requests for information from US police last year, twice as many as in 2019.

Experts say that solving crimes based on web browsing data is not completely accurate, because it only tracks devices, not people. To "disable", criminals can stop using search engines or not carry their mobile phones.

This method of investigation is increasingly being criticized because of concerns about privacy violations and the increased risk of personal information being leaked.

Google has reassured users by affirming that it is increasing staff for the Forensic Investigation Support (LIS) team, to screen data before sending it to authorities.

The platform also limits the amount of content each LIS employee has access to, and is looking to reduce the radius of the area where information is required in cases where police require it.

Last month, Google added an on/off option to “location history” in its Maps app, allowing users to turn off the feature to hide their travel history.

With the enabled state, estimated location data is also stored directly on the device and only accessible to the account owner.

"User location is personal information. We are committed to keeping it private, secure and in control," emphasized Marlo McGriff, Google Maps Product Manager.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/canh-sat-pha-an-nho-google-gay-lo-ngai-o-my-196240109135214093.htm