Minn. police seek data on who Googled a victim’s name

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Local police in Minnesota are trying to solve a bank fraud scheme by demanding Google give up data on people who looked up key search terms that may be related to crime.

The warrant, issued to police in the city of Edina last month, is raising eyebrows among privacy advocates. It's a rare instance of U.S. law enforcement using mass data collection to solve a petty crime, said Nate Cardozo, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Edina police applied for the warrant to investigate a fraud case dealing with $28,500 that was wired out of a victim's bank account back in January.

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