The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the use of search history-based evidence provided by Google in a murder case was justifiable, setting a notable precedent in favor of the use of such data in prosecution.
Police were investigating a 2020 fire that killed five people in Denver. Authorities sent a keyword search warrant to Google requesting information on who may have searched for the address of the house that was lit on fire. That data were used to justify the arrest of three teenagers. However, one of the teenagers' lawyers pushed back on the arrest, arguing that the data search was illegal, the first such legal challenge to the collection of search engine data through a warrant.
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The court ruled that police acted in good faith upon requesting the warrant, noting that the requested information was specific and not broad in intent. "Our finding of good faith today neither condones nor condemns all such warrants in the future," the court wrote. "If dystopian problems emerge, as some fear, the courts stand ready to hear argument regarding how we should rein in law enforcement's use of rapidly advancing technology."
The court was divided on the decision. The ruling "gives constitutional cover to law enforcement seeking unprecedented access to the private lives of individuals not just in Colorado, but across the globe," Justice Monica Marquez wrote.
"After today's decision, I anticipate that reverse-keyword warrants will swiftly become the investigative tool of first resort," Marquez wrote in a dissent co-authored by Justice Carlos Samour. "Because, why not? It's a tantalizingly easy shortcut to generating a list of potential suspects."
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The judges focused on grappling with the sensitive nature of a person's Google history, which offers profound insights into a person's mind. Keyword search warrants have been requested in the past, but their use has come under scrutiny in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Privacy advocates have raised the concern that keyword search warrants could be used to prosecute women in states where abortion is banned.
Police are using warrants to request location and search data more and more from Google, according to Bloomberg. Federal agencies have also embraced the practice and have been scrutinized by Congress.