The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that the government must disclose information on its use of cell phone data to track criminal suspects. CNN reports on the case and its potential impact:

The ACLU had filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act, asking for court docket information on current and past cases of those tracked using mobile location data. The civil liberties group also wanted to know about the government's policies, procedures and practices when using the tracking technology.

The government will now be compelled to release the docket information in cases where there was a conviction or public guilty plea.

For cases that resulted in an acquittal, dismissal or were sealed for national security purposes, the appeals court ordered a lower court to re-examine the issue.