Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Geofence Warrants for Cellphone Location Data Under Fourth Amendment

U.S. A divided bench expressed skepticism about broadly barring such techniques, which allow law enforcement to identify suspects and witnesses by querying tech companies for location data from devices near crime scenes.

Geofence warrants enable authorities to tap into databases maintained by companies like Google to retrieve anonymized location histories from users within a specified geographic area and time frame around a crime. The New York Times detailed how these searches sweep up data from bystanders as well as potential perpetrators.

NPR described the technique as a method for police to determine who was present near a crime scene and possibly involved, blending innovative investigation with privacy risks. The case stems from challenges to warrants that reverse-engineer device locations to build timelines of individuals' movements.

Justices questioned the scope of such searches during oral arguments, with some indicating support for limits but not outright bans.

No ruling timeline was announced. Advocates called the move a betrayal, citing risks of deportation or discrimination through federal access to license issuance records.

According to TechCrunch. Costs for these plants have nearly doubled over two years and now take 23% longer to build, amid skyrocketing demand from AI and computing facilities.

Electricity demand in the United States has risen since 2020 after nearly two decades of slow growth, Stanford energy science professor Sally Benson stated at the Hoover Institution. She attributed the increase to reshoring manufacturing, vehicle electrification, and data center expansion.

In North Carolina, Duke Energy received tax breaks for three data centers it owns in Charlotte, Garner, and Huntersville at the McGuire nuclear plant, state Commerce Department records show, per Inside Climate News. 7 million at the Carolinas West Primary Control Center in Charlotte from 2014 to 2019, certified in 2020; and $126 million at the Carolinas East Primary Control Center in Garner from 2019 to 2023, certified in 2020.

North Carolina enacted sales and use tax breaks for data centers in 2010 and expanded them in 2015.

25% on equipment like computers and electrical infrastructure, plus taxes on electricity use. To qualify, operators must meet county wage standards, provide health insurance to full-time employees, and invest $75 million in private funds within five years. These exemptions divert up to $57 million annually from state and local revenues, state figures indicate.

9 billion in gross profits last year while proposing an 18% rate hike for North Carolina customers, which would add $34 monthly to bills for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of usage. Electric bills statewide have risen 22% since 2020. Duke spokesman Jeff Brooks said the data centers support operations and enable reliable service, with tax savings passed to customers when possible.

Gov. Josh Stein told his Energy Policy Task Force earlier this month that the legislature should reconsider the exemptions. Seven Democratic state lawmakers introduced legislation on Monday to repeal sales tax exemptions for data centers.

Rani Masri, co-director of the NC Environmental Justice Network, said, “It is infuriating, but not surprising, that Duke Energy both benefits from getting sales and usage tax incentives. We’re giving Duke Energy money to build something and then we’re paying Duke Energy higher utility rates. It is absolutely absurd.

” The North Carolina Utilities Commission held a public hearing in Roxboro earlier this month on the rate hikes. Microsoft plans a data center on 1,350 acres in north Roxboro near Duke's Hyco Lake coal plants, where the utility is building two natural gas plants to replace coal facilities, potentially burning both fuels during transition.

More than a dozen local governments in the state have imposed temporary moratoria on data center construction.

Duke is expected to file a rebuttal by May 12. Public Staff engineering manager Blaise Michna testified that Duke's natural gas plans are overly aggressive and its forecasting favors the fuel. Hope Taylor, executive director of Clean Water for North Carolina, told the commission Duke exaggerated load forecasts, including for data centers, to justify the buildout.

Com. 3% of national total power use and potentially doubling overall demand. China is testing a prototype truck-mounted nuclear reactor, the world's first 10-megawatt vehicle-mounted unit, developed over several years, a leading scientist told the South China Morning Post.

The output could power a medium-sized AI data center. The team seeks deployment opportunities. ” Elsewhere in science news, astronomers identified 10,000 new exoplanets hidden in data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, launched in 2018 to search for worlds beyond our solar system, New Scientist reported.

U.S. government holds 328,372 Bitcoin, about 207,000 more than the next five countries combined, according to Bitwise data cited by CoinDesk.

Biobank and a participant in the project, said he was angry and upset about an event involving misuse by a few individuals, per BBC News.