[Wired] Google provided investigators with location data for more than 5,000 devices as part of the federal investigation into the attack on the US Capitol.The FBI’s biggest-ever investigation included the biggest-ever haul of phones from controversial geofence warrants, court records show. A filing in the case of one of the January 6 suspects, David Rhine, shows that Google initially identified 5,723 devices as being in or near the US Capitol during the riot. Only around 900 people have so far been charged with offenses relating to the siege.
The filing suggests that dozens of phones that were in airplane mode during the riot, or otherwise out of cell service, were caught up in the trawl. Nor could users erase their digital trails later. In fact, 37 people who attempted to delete their location data following the attacks were singled out by the FBI for greater scrutiny.
No thought given by the Bureau to the future impacts on discovery involving criminal activity here or OCONUS. They were just going for the 'big win' and hoping no one would find out about their 'sources and methods.'