https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/feds-cant-ask-google-for-every-phone-in-a-100-meter-radius-court-says/ > Federal courts in the Chicago area have three times rejected government applications for warrants to force Google to produce a list of smartphones near two particular commercial establishments during one of three 45-minute intervals. The most recent ruling was handed down last week and was recently made public. > The decisions are significant because Google has reported massive growth in law enforcement use of such "geofence" searches. Google says there was a 1,500 percent increase between 2017 and 2018 and a further 600 percent jump from 2018 to 2019. That's a hundredfold increase in two years. Google received 180 geofence search requests a week during 2019, according to CNet.