Balough Discusses Geolocational Privacy at ABA Institute

The issue of whether individuals have any expectation of privacy concerning their location was explored as part of a presentation by Richard C. Balough at the American Bar Association’s Cyberspace Law Committee Institute in San Francisco.

Geolocational privacy involves the ability of mobile devices to second-by-second track the physical location of individuals. The question is whether an individual should have any expectation that his or her location is private.

“As communications and transactions move to the mobile environment, legislators, regulators, and the courts are beginning to struggle with questions concerning geolocation,” Balough wrote in a paper presented to the institute.  “With geolocational tracking, someone knows where we are at all times.”

As part of the presentation, Mr. Balough discussed how technology tracks individuals using such devices as an I-Pass, cell phones, and GPS tracking devices.  He noted that the United States Supreme Court is considering the use by law enforcement officials of a GPS tracking device that was placed without a valid warrant on the car of an individual.  The device sent back information every 10 seconds for 28 days.

The presentation was made on January 20, 2012, with Theodore F. Claypoole of Womble Carlysle Standridge and Rice.  Mr. Balough and Mr. Claypoole are co-chairs of the mCommerce Subcommittee of the Cyberspace Law Committee of the ABA’s Business Law Section.