{"id":158514,"date":"2025-10-10T13:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T20:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=158514"},"modified":"2026-09-22T07:49:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:49:00","slug":"do-we-need-a-warrant-to-use-grabify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=158514","title":{"rendered":"Do We Need a Warrant to Use Grabify?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Bandiero<\/a><\/strong>
\nAttorney and Senior Legal Instructor, Blue to Gold Law Enforcement Training<\/p>\n

An officer asks whether using Grabify, a link-spoofing tool that returns a recipient’s IP address<\/a> when they click, requires a warrant. Recorded in Austin while teaching Texas troopers and Austin PD.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey guys, it’s Anthony Bandiero here, attorney for Blue to Gold Law Enforcement Training, bringing you a roadside chat.<\/p>\n

I’m actually in Texas teaching mostly Texas troopers, actually teaching at the Texas DOT. And I will tell you that I had my preconceived notions about what this place would look like. When I got here, this place is a palace. This is the nicest DOT building in America by far. It’s brand new, so it kind of makes sense that it’s advanced, but it’s incredible. Spending a couple days with some amazing troopers, and also a lot of officers from Austin PD since I’m in the capital.<\/p>\n

But regardless, bringing the roadside chat. So this question is, does Grabify require a warrant?<\/p>\n

What does Grabify actually do?<\/h2>\n

Okay, so I had to look this up. I did not know what Grabify was.<\/p>\n

Grabify is a website that basically spoofs. You give it a URL, let’s say statefarm.com or something like that. Then you send that fake URL to a recipient, let’s say a suspect. They click on that State Farm URL, and Grabify will give you their IP address, their browser and so forth.<\/p>\n

From what I can tell, nothing too crazy. Just stuff that normally a lot of websites have.<\/p>\n

And the question from the officer is, do we need a warrant to even use Grabify?<\/p>\n

Do ruses require a warrant?<\/h2>\n

The answer is going to be no. Generally speaking, ruses<\/a> do not require warrants. As long as two things.<\/p>\n

Number one, that there’s no privacy interest here. I don’t think this is a search or a seizure. At the end of the day, it’s a spoof, it’s a fake. If the person clicks on it, they’re voluntarily clicking on it. Nothing forced them to click on it.<\/p>\n

Are IP addresses private information?<\/h2>\n

But the other thing is that most courts do not believe that IP addresses are private information. Most courts look at IP addresses the same way that the U.S. Supreme Court looked at telephone numbers. That is, a pen register.<\/p>\n

There’s a pen register case from the 1970s. I want to say it’s Maryland versus, it’s not Wilson, but anyway, it doesn’t matter. But the point is that the U.S. Supreme Court said that a pen register, which basically logs what numbers people dial, is not private information. You’re voluntarily giving that information up to a third party in order to facilitate a phone call.<\/p>\n

Well, the IP address, whether or not you agree with that case, the IP address is similar. When you click on links and you did it voluntarily, you are giving certain information over to a third party, whether it’s your IP address, your browser and so forth.<\/p>\n

So how should an officer handle the Grabify question?<\/h2>\n

So at the end of the day, the way I would handle this Grabify issue is just say, hey, there is no private information. There is no Fourth Amendment issue here. There is no violation of federal law. I can’t imagine this would violate any state law, but I could be wrong.<\/p>\n

And also, even if there was a judge out there that somehow found that an IP address was private information, at the end of the day, they still gave it over voluntarily.<\/p>\n

Is a spoofed link a fair tactic?<\/h2>\n

I know it was a spoof, but there’s a lot of spoofing going on in law enforcement. I mean, when cops go after child predators, they are using a ruse, a spoof in a sense, in that the suspect they’re talking to, they think they’re talking to a 13-year-old, but they’re not. They’re talking to an officer.<\/p>\n

So a lot of deception and ruses and so forth goes on in law enforcement. And again, there’s going to be people out there, probably non-law enforcement, that think this is an unfair tactic. We can have that conversation if you want. But at the end of the day, when it comes to the law, this is a valid tactic.<\/p>\n

It’s probably a smart tactic in order to get IP addresses for warrants and so forth. So this is a good question, but I have no issue with it. I would keep using it. It seems like a pretty good tool to get IP addresses when otherwise it’d be a little difficult. Then you can put that IP address into a warrant.<\/p>\n

It’s a great question. I’m glad you asked. Keep these questions coming.<\/p>\n

The short version<\/h2>\n