Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin S. Kerr explains the legal implications of Google’s decision to store Maps’ location history on local devices.

The company will no longer have custody of people’s opt-in location history data, and therefore, cannot be subject to geofence warrants.

“If Google doesn’t keep the records, Google will have no records to turn over. If the government comes to Google with a court order for geofence data, Google will just say, sorry, we don’t keep that stuff anymore,” writes Kerr.

I recommend reading Kerr’s assessment of the benefits of geofence warrants weighted against privacy and the risks of government abuse.

He notes that dealing with government requests is a “costly hassle” and Google’s change is “an example of a less-appreciated way that the market regulates privacy.”