Federal Agent Cell Location Searches Raise NJ Privacy Concerns

New Jersey judges searched for a workable line Tuesday in an oral argument over when out-of-state agents can avoid requirements for cell phone location searches .

Under the state constitution, New Jersey police need probable cause to get a state court’s blessing to track a defendants’ location through cell phone tower pings. That’s not true under federal law, or state law in Ohio where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives started tracking a defendant who eventually pleaded guilty in the Garden State to firearms trafficking.

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division Judges Robert J. Gilson and Lisa Perez ...