Can Ukraine gov ask Google / Apple for geolocation data?

Question

We're seen in the past geo-fence warrants [1] used by law enforcement to find all active mobile devices within a particular geo-fence area and we've also seen how fitness data has revealed the location of military bases[2].Could the same techniques be used by the UA government to seek data on Russian ground movements? Is it likely that Apple/Google would comply with such a request?[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo-fence_warrant [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072

nostrademons · Accepted Answer

It's almost certain that the US and UK governments are feeding the Ukraine CIA satellite data. There's no need for them to go to Google/Apple for geolocation data, which is significantly less reliable (why would a soldier carry a consumer cell phone with geolocation turned on?) and exposes tech companies to all sorts of questions about user trust and international legality.