×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
Across the Nation, Cops Use ‘Fog Reveal’ to Track More Than 250 Million Mobile Devices
Loaded on Dec. 15, 2022
by Douglas Ankney
published in Criminal Legal News
January, 2023, page 20
Filed under:
Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet,
Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI").
Location:
California.
by Douglas Ankney
According to a September 2022 report from AP News, law enforcement agencies from suburban Southern California to rural North Carolina are using an obscure cellphone tracking tool known as “Fog Reveal” that enables the cops to follow people’s movements months back in time. As of …
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- False Confession Generator: How Accusatorial Interrogations Undermine the Pursuit of Justice, by Anthony Accurso
- Arizona Supreme Court Announces Jury Unanimity Required Regarding Narcotic Type Under Possession Statute, by Anthony Accurso
- Against the Flow: How the National Registry of Exonerations Is Working to Turn the Tide of Wrongful Convictions Across U.S., by Benjamin Tschirhart
- Ninth Circuit Announces District Courts May Consider First Step Act’s Non-Retroactive Changes to Sentencing Law When Deciding Motion for Compassionate Release, by Douglas Ankney
- Across the Nation, Cops Use ‘Fog Reveal’ to Track More Than 250 Million Mobile Devices, by Douglas Ankney
- First Circuit Reverses Denial of Habeas Relief Where District Court Found Batson Error but Observed AEDPA, Deferred to State Court’s Finding that No Batson Error Occurred, by Douglas Ankney
- Federal Habeas Corpus: How to Raise an Actual Innocence Claim, by Dale Chappell
- Second Circuit Announces District Courts Must Provide Habeas Petitioners with Notice and Opportunity To Be Heard Before Dismissing Petition Sua Sponte Based on Stone’s Limitation on Fourth Amendment Claims, by Douglas Ankney
- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Criminal Record Alone Does Not Justify Patfrisk, Gun Discovered in Waistband Suppressed, by Jacob Barrett
- Third Circuit: Defendant Entitled to Reasonable Opportunity to File Sentencing Memo Before Resentencing Under First Step Act, by David Reutter
- Fifth Circuit Denies Absolute Immunity for Prosecutor Who Fabricated Evidence in Murder Conviction and Death Sentence, by Douglas Ankney
- Prosecutors in These States Can Review Sentences They Deem Extreme. Few Do., by Charlie Lee, Matt Nadel
- Fourth Circuit Announces Substantive Reasonableness Review Applies to All Proceedings Under § 404 of First Step Act, Regardless of Whether Motion Is Granted or Denied, by Douglas Ankney
- Sixth Circuit Announces Criminal Forfeiture Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.2(b) Is Mandatory Claims-Processing Rule, Reverses $62.5 Million Money Judgments, by Douglas Ankney
- Colorado Supreme Court: Police Officer’s ‘Hunches’ Cannot Establish Probable Cause, Determination Requires Consideration of Facts Weighing in Favor and Against Probable Cause, by Anthony Accurso
- Kentucky Supreme Court Announces Obtaining Real-Time CSLI Data Constitutes a Search Under Fourth Amendment, Addressing Legal Question U.S. Supreme Court Explicitly Left Open in Carpenter, by Anthony Accurso
- New York Court of Appeals Reverses Murder Conviction Where Trial Court’s Evidentiary Rulings Deprived Defendant of ‘Opportunity to Present Complete Defense’, by Douglas Ankney
- Miami Police Officer Who Broke ‘Blue Code of Silence’ Being Investigated, by Casey Bastian
- Eighth Circuit: District Court Erred in Denying Government’s Motion to Dismiss Charges as Part of Plea Agreement, by David Reutter
- NIST’s Upgrade to Software Reference Library Makes Data More Accessible to Law Enforcement, by Douglas Ankney
- For $10 Billion, New Yorkers Get a Police Package Deal That Includes Corrupt Career Officers and Almost 1,000 Criminal Cases Tossed, by Douglas Ankney
- Indiana Supreme Court Announces Trial Rule 26(B)(3) Governs Whether Police Reports Are Protected Work Product, Expressly Overruling Keaton, by Douglas Ankney
- Variability in Records Requests Obscures Police Use of Surveillance, by Anthony Accurso
- U.S. Senator to Federal Agency: Investigate Abusive Use of Administrative Subpoena Power to Gather Bulk Financial Records, by Casey Bastian
- Fog Data Science, Your Hometown Data Broker, by Anthony Accurso
- Due Processless Civil Asset Forfeitures in Houston, Texas, by Edward Lyon
- News in Brief
More from Douglas Ankney:
- The Dramatic Increase in the Elderly Prison Population Is Fiscally and Morally Irresponsible, Oct. 1, 2026
- Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity but Clarifies that 14th Amendment ‘Objective Reasonableness’ Is Standard of Review for Pretrial Detainee’s Claim of Sexual Abuse, Oct. 1, 2026
- California Supreme Court Announces Totality-of-Circumstances Framework Focused on Defendant’s Subjective Understanding Under § 1473.7(a)(1), Holding Immigration Consequences Advisement Is Relevant but Not Dispositive, Oct. 1, 2026
- Idaho Supreme Court Holds Conflicting Affidavits About Plea Acceptance Require Evidentiary Hearing on Ineffective-Assistance Claim, Oct. 1, 2026
- Tenth Circuit Vacates Award of Costs to Prison Officials, Revives Prisoner’s Claim Alleging Denial of Access to Functioning Toilets and Exposure to Other Prisoners’ Feces, Oct. 1, 2026
- Second Circuit Vacates Above-Guidelines Firearm-Trafficking Sentence Based on Failure to Assist Law Enforcement and Unexplained Reliance on Factors Already Included in Guidelines Range, Sept. 1, 2026
- Ninth Circuit Reverses Convictions, Holding Requirement That Defendant Testify Before Displaying Hand Tattoos Violates Fifth Amendment, Sept. 1, 2026
- Ohio Supreme Court Announces Postconviction DNA-Testing Orders Need Only Identify Statutory Reason to Satisfy R.C. 2953.73(D) “Reasons” Requirement, Sept. 1, 2026
- Federal Court Upholds Consultants’ Finding that Oklahoma Is Not Honoring Its Consent Decree to Provide Mental Health Treatment, Sept. 1, 2026
- Idaho Legislature Moves to Hide Execution Protocol from Judicial Scrutiny, Sept. 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- Connecticut Supreme Court Holds Trial Counsel Ineffective for Failing to Challenge Misleading CSLI GeoTime Video, Sept. 1, 2026. Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Failure to Consult/Investigate/Raise, Trial Strategy, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of, Prejudice - Potential for Undue.
- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Postconviction Forensic Testing Statute Permits Digital Forensic Analysis of Cellphones, Holding Chapter 278A Not Limited to Tangible Evidence Testable for Biological Material, Aug. 1, 2026. Forensic Sciences, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Statutory Construction/Interpretation, Failure to Consult/Investigate/Raise, Relevance.
- SCOTUS Announces Accessing Google Location History Data Constitutes a Fourth Amendment Search, Holding That Neither Brief Duration Nor Third-Party Storage Negates Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Cellphone Location Information, July 1, 2026. Particularity Requirement, Probable Cause, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Electronic Surveillance.
- Passive Data Transforms Smart Devices Into Covert Witnesses in a Silent Surveillance State, July 1, 2026. Forensic Sciences, Police State-Surveillance, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Electronic Surveillance, Exclusionary Rule.
- New Jersey Supreme Court Announces Historical CSLI Must Be Presented Through Expert Testimony, Rejecting Lay Mapping of Cell-Tower Locations Because Interpreting CSLI Requires Technical and Specialized Knowledge Beyond “Ken” of Average Juror, May 1, 2026. Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Prejudice - Potential for Undue, Expert and Opinion Testimony, Scientific Testimony or Evidence.
- Beyond Geofence Warrants: Chatrie, Reverse-Location Surveillance, and the Fourth Amendment Fight Over Digital Dragnets, May 1, 2026. Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Electronic Surveillance.
- Oregon Supreme Court Announces Article I, Section 9, of State Constitution Protects Privacy in Internet Browsing Conducted Over Public Wi-Fi Networks, April 1, 2026. Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Warrantless Searches, Electronic Surveillance, State Constitutional Claims, Suppression.
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court (Opinion Announcing the Judgment of the Court): No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Unprotected Google Searches, Jan. 1, 2026. Fourth Amendment, rights, Probable Cause, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Privacy Act/Rights, State Constitutional Claims.
- Protecting Your Digital Privacy, Oct. 15, 2025. Police State-Surveillance, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Electronic Surveillance, Digital Devices.
- Michigan Supreme Court Announces Guidance on Standards for Search Warrants of Cellphones to Satisfy Particularity Requirement of Fourth Amendment That “Reasonably Direct” Search to Uncovering Evidence of Criminal Activity Identified in Warrant, Oct. 15, 2025. Particularity Requirement, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Cell-Phones, Warrants - General Search, Failure to Preserve Challenge.





