FBI Warrant To Get Google To Unlock Pimp's Smartphone Approved

A San Diego court judge has approved the FBI's request that Google submits all the information stored on a pimp's Android phone, including pattern lock code and other sensitive data you'd think was secure just to yourself.

Dante Dear, one of the co-founders of the "Pimpin' Hoes Daily" (PhD) gang in the San Diego area was prisoned in 2005 for pimping, and causing grievous bodily harm on a 15-year-old girl, beating her into the trunk of his car when she refused to work.  After release, a source close to the FBI informed them that Dears was still in control of some prostitutes, using an android phone he had denied owning.

Law enforcement got the pimp's permission to search his home as part of his parole agreement, which the FBI used to ascertain the phone and obtain a search warrant for the device.  However, the agents entered the pattern lock code wrongly too many times, causing the phone to lockdown for anyone without the account credentials linked to it.

Determined, the FBI filed a warrant for Google's assistance in unlocking the device, requesting that they hand over any information it had collected during the use of the phone, including (but not limited to) contact lists, emails, GPS history, billing information, web history, and "verbal and/or written instructions for overriding the 'pattern lock.'"

The warrant was approved by the Judge ruling the case, so it will be interesting to see just to what extent a user's data is collected by Google.  It's like your run-of-the-mill request for telephone call history or ISP data; but I know and you probably know that Google are probably in a position to provide data much further beyond the standard call list and site history.

Source: Archive.org (PDF)