Colorado Supreme Court Approves Controversial Use of Google Search Data in Murder Trial

The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Google search data can be used as evidence in a murder trial, marking a significant moment in the intersection of technology and law.

Bloomberg reports that in a decision that could reshape legal boundaries, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled in favor of using Google search data as evidence in a murder case. The case revolves around a tragic fire that claimed five lives, with a teenager, Gavin Seymour, among the accused. Authorities turned to technology giant Google, employing a “keyword search warrant” to unveil potential suspects by identifying who had searched for the house’s address that later went up in flames. Seymour became a suspect based on the search information that Google returned.

“Our finding of good faith today neither condones nor condemns all such warrants in the future,” the court articulated, emphasizing the specificity of their ruling to the case at hand. “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.” This nuanced approach underscores the court’s cautious navigation through uncharted legal waters, balancing technological advancements with foundational legal principles.

Seymour’s defense team contested the legality of the keyword search warrant, challenging its constitutional validity. “Instead, the process operates in reverse — search everyone first, and identify suspects later,” the defense team argued, spotlighting the profound departure of this method from traditional legal procedures.

Breitbart News previously reported on innovative ways that law enforcement agencies are gathering data from Google, including “reverse location search warrants:”

“Police departments across the country have been knocking at Google’s door for at least the last two years with warrants to tap into the company’s extensive stores of cellphone location data,” reported Slate last month. “Known as ‘reverse location search warrants,’ these legal mandates allow law enforcement to sweep up the coordinates and movements of every cellphone in a broad area.”

“The police can then check to see if any of the phones came close to the crime scene. In doing so, however, the police can end up not only fishing for a suspect, but also gathering the location data of potentially hundreds (or thousands) of innocent people,” Slate continued, adding that there “have only been anecdotal reports of reverse location searches, so it’s unclear how widespread the practice is, but privacy advocates worry that Google’s data will eventually allow more and more departments to conduct indiscriminate searches.”

Read more at Bloomberg here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.