In a decision that was closeley watched by civil liberties group and the technology industry, the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that GPS tracking devices constitute a “search” and that authorities must obtain a warrant before placing one on a suspect’s vehicle.
In a rare 9-0 vote, the Court ruled in United States vs. Jones that federal authorities who placed a GPS tracking device on an automobile belonging to an alleged drug dealer without a valid warrant violated the Constitution’s 4th Amendment right to protection from unlawful search and seizure.
The FBI and D.C. Metropolitan Police had originally targeted the defendant, Antoine Jones, on suspicion that he was involved in narcotics trafficking in 2004. Authorities received a warrant to place a GPS tracking device on Jones’s wife’s car. The warrant stipulated that it must be placed within 10 days of issue and within the District of Columbia. Instead, authorities placed the device on Jones car on the 11th day, and in Maryland, rather than DC. They then tracked Jones’ movements for 28 days and used the data they received to help win a conviction for drug trafficking.
Despite the expired warrant, a lower court upheld much of the 2,000 pages of data collected by the Government from the car-mounted GPS was valid because Jones had no reasonable expectation of privacy when driving on public thoroughfares. The nine Supreme Court justices, however, disagreed. In a majority opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court said that automobiles were clearly an example of the personal “effects” that the Constitution prevents from unlawful search and seizure, and that the GPS monitoring constituted a “search.”
The case has been closely watched by privacy advocates, especially after information surfaced that suggested the practice was commonly used by federal, state and local authorities. The latest ruling should bring about abrupt changes in the practice, as law enforcement will need to obtain warrants for any GPS monitoring.
http://www.cso.com.au/article/409258/kaspersky_ditch_anti-piracy_software_lobbyists_bsa_/#closeme
very good to hear.
Glad the Supreme Court made a good decision, not that I do anything wrong, but for the fact if I should ever need to visit a medical specialist in private. Not let anyone know less I get stigmatized and ostracized out of my family or workplace. Heck even some law enforcement types are rabid bigots and not just the white one’s neither. Letting them place GPS tracking devices on anyone’s vehicle without keeping our more intelligent law makers in the loop is just asking to be severely abused. The next step is to tackle the GPS tracking that’s done with cell phones automatically by the carriers 8 times a hour. The cops don’t need to place a device on a vehicle anymore really because we all volunteering to place such a device in our very own pockets, along with tons of other vital info we are placing and using smartphones for. The carriers are giving up this information to the government on a routine wide scale basis without a warrant. Since cell phone + driving is such a problem, people need to use a Faraday bag/cage to block all signals emanating from their cell phones.
oddly enough the information provided by the cellphone companies are part of your contract. If you sign away your rights there is no recourse. Further, it is well known that this information is provided, it isn’t precisely accurate, it is often used for the public good (if you dial 911, but have no clue where you are, or have to hang up fast) Basically the information is in the public domain, and you can have NO expectation of privacy in this reguard. Placing a GPS monitoring device in your car without your knowledge is the same as a wiretap.
It is possible that extensive monitoring of your movements via your cellphone would be an issue (think in terms in excess of a month of constant monitoring of your precise movements), but a week of monitoring via cellphone will likely get by a court, and it is questionable whether you have any expectation of privacy at all with that device… after all, you can just leave it at home.