Supreme Court Will Rule If Gov’t Can Track GPS Units Without a Warrant
- Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:15am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will weigh in on an important privacy issue for the digital age, whether the police need a warrant before using a global positioning system device to track a suspect’s movements.
The justices said Monday they will hear the Obama administration’s appeal of a court ruling that favored a criminal defendant. The federal appeals court in Washington overturned a criminal conviction because the police had no warrant for the GPS device they secretly installed on a man’s car.
Other appeals courts have ruled that search warrants aren’t necessary for GPS tracking.
The Justice Department argued that warrantless use of GPS devices does not violate the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches. It also said prompt resolution of the divergent court opinions is critically important to law enforcement.
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Comments (93)
Momtage
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:32pmAll phones will be converted to GPS capable so that anyone at any time can be tracked. All phones not GPS capable will stopped being serviced by your ISP.
Report Post »regressive_democrat
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:40pmDon‘t forget Obama’s propaganda chip that will send you instructions whether you want them or not.
It’s for the kids they say.
Report Post »regressive_democrat
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:32pmMurdering an unborn child is protected by your ‘right to privacy’
Warrantless tracking of your location by the government is fair game.
Welcome to the Fourth Reich. When do the train cars begin loading?
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 4:24pmThey are pushing high speed rail on us. Maybe sooner than later.
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:29pmOh Johnny tell the contestants what the have won today!!!!! Yes, it is a GPS up everyone’s butt!!!! Look out people!! Stand up and fight!!! Lets tear down this unconstitutional government and get it back either peacefully or by force, just like the founders said!!!
Report Post »cobra two
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:23pmWarrants? we don’t need no stinkin warrants! We are the POLICE dammit. we do what ever the hell
Report Post »we want to do. They don’t pay us 20 grand a year for nothin!
omgfolks
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:14pmSadly it does not matter what we as citizens want or think. the supreme court will most likely strip us again of our right to privacy free from interference of goverment. When the police want something like this they usually get it, they argue officer safety , public safety, or some such nonesense and end up getting what they want. Many times we have lost rights provided by our constitution under the guise of public safety or officer safety, this will be no different I am afraid. We have only the rights that they give us anymore, and that is just plain sad. Alas their nothing we can do and they know it, try to fight back and your labeled a trouble maker, or terrorist or some such and they shut you up any way they can. When will the people learn they do have the power, they just need to be willing to exercise it. I guess when it finally gets inside their own home will they see it is time to correct the injustice on our goverment and our law enforcement remiding them they work for us, not the other way around.
Report Post »ssingh1515
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:06pmCarefully read this sentence in the article: “The federal appeals court in Washington overturned a criminal conviction because the police had no warrant for the GPS device they secretly installed on a man’s car.”
Report Post »‘Police had no warrant for GPS; secretly installed the device on man‘s car’.
US Constitution/Bill of Rights: Amendment IV
THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO BE SECURE IN THEIR PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS, AND EFFECTS, AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, AND NO WARRANTS SHALL ISSUE, BUT UPON PROBABLE CAUSE, SUPPORTED BY OATH OR AFFIRMATION, AND PARTICULARLY DESCRIBING THE PLACE TO BE SEARCHED, AND THE PERSONS OR THINGS TO BE SEIZED.
Police/ authorities first seek probable cause for suspicion and then approve of a search and/or seizure by authorization of a judge in writing.
This time. I hope, the US Supreme Court will accurately interpret the United States Constitution as it was intended when first written.
Hemingway in Cuba
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:50amThe question really should be “why would they have the right, not do they have the right?” This again pushed the line further and further.
Report Post »kpopper
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:50amCalm down. GPS units cannot be tracked. A GPS unit is a receiver only, and this is true of GPS chips in phones. There is technically no way to track a normal GPS receiver. What the Supremes were ruling on is the legality of the police attaching a special device to a suspect’s car, which combines a GPS receiver and a radio transmitter. This special device transmits the vehicle’s location by radio so that the police can track it. Normal GPS receivers and GPS phones do NOT do this and cannot be used to track you.
Of course, it is possible to track a smartphone by figuring out which tower is closest, and depending on the settings your phone may be set up to report its position to some websites (location-based services) but this is under the user’s control.
So let’s back off on the uninformed paranoia?
Report Post »jessieH
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:30amIf this passes, I’ll throw my phone in the sewers where they can easily find it.
Report Post »HiredMind Blog
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:22amIMHO, this should be an open and shut case. There’s no fundamental difference between GPS tracking someone and following them.
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:10amIts obvious after project gun runner, that government couldnt find its own arse with a map and another set of hands.
Report Post »Texas Grasshopper
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:56amrelated issue : breaking news . One question , Can Goverment impose a Curfew on Adults ? This is going on in Philly . I thought that Curfew was for minors and Martail Law was for Adults . ? Any thoughts ?
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/06/25/with-state-of-emergency-in-place-a-calm-night-in-darby-borough/
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:11pmAh, the city of “Brotherly Love”. Seems to all have been about “Gun violence”????
Report Post »westy98530
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:51amThis headline is awfully misleading. The case is about them INSTALLING a GPS tracker. Not about warrantless tracking of your own stuff. That said, I’m not sure which is worse. As to tracking your own stuff, it‘s impossible to track a GPS device that doesn’t have a separate built in transmitter of some kind, since GPS is a recieve-only system. Your Garmin is safe.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:48amWhat’s wrong with getting a warrant? How hard is it? Call a judge and get a warrant, it’s worked like that for decades. I see no reason to change it now.
Report Post »jmootispaw
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:48amOk so what is the argument? Is there a real right to privacy in The Constitution or not? Wasn’t Roe vs. Wade the idea that women had a right to privacy based on what they do to their own bodies? I believe that Roe vs Wade is flawed constitutionally. Someone wiser then I, please help me with the argument that you have an implicit right to privacy here. I don’t know, but it seems to me you can’t have it both ways. Again, someone who is wiser than I and can explain this please help me out.
Report Post »Pattondog
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:46amwe should all be concerned, this isnt what they are painting it to be as. oh gee fred has a warrant for unpaid parking\speeding ticket becuse he forgot his court day. lets track him so we can politely rip him up out of his work home enviroment and make his life hell. thats just the very very low levle polite way of it. the realilty is mass tracking of the population if at any point in time they want you specifially or want \ need to hurdle a mass of people like cattle to some sort of camp, For their safety of course. and the argument of if your not doing anything wrong doesnt apply here. what if down the line they want to go after a particular political group of thinkers that are vocal, say tea party people?
Report Post »kpopper
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:20pmI guess the right to freedom of speech includes the functionally illiterate like Pattondog here, so I would encourage you all to hack your way through the dense undergrowth of his misspelling and atrocious sentence construction to try to figure out what he is actually trying to say.
Report Post »powhatan
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:42amHow about..only to track Illegal’s…
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:59amNope, they wouldn’t do that……..they don’t care about them….they are potential voters…it is only the citizens who might be enemies.
Report Post »50BMG
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:38amIf the government has the right to place a tracking device on your car without a warrant, then they have the right to place one in your clothing without a warrant. Are you feeling uncomfortable yet? Because it’s a very small step to forcing you to wear or implant a tracking device.
One by one our Constitutional rights are being nullified.
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, IT IS THEIR DUTY, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” -Declaration of Independence, 1776
Report Post »NJTMATO
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:41amYES!!! It is our right and it is our DUTY!!!
Report Post »NJTMATO
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:33amAll I can say is UGH! And….ONE MORE TIME….”He has erected a multitude of New offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.”…..Just ONE of the Facts considered in Congress on July 4, 1776 for the Declaration of Independence. We need to declare Independence from this administration PRONTO!
Report Post »tbl10
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:30amThis is all paving the way for their coveted RIFD chip. Just a matter of time, before it becomes mandatory that everyone accepts the chip.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:46amThe “Mark of the Beast” coming soon!
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:24amWhy doesn’t he just cut to the chase?.
Report Post »We should all work for free with all the money we might have made going directly to the marxist president. Nobody should own anything and we should be put out of our misery at the age of 55.
Forget GPS…we should all have a chip implanted at birth, if we are allowed to be born, and we we speak out against the government we should be made to simply disappear.
I’m sure chuckie schumer would back that plan on a Sunday afternoon.
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:24am.
Report Post »If Global Warming is for real.
When they wear their Black Robe’s they may just bust into flames..
tirepitstop
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:22amThey don’t understand the 4th amendment… to them …nothing violates it.
Report Post »calamitykate
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:20amThey don’t need a GPS to track someone, if you have a smart phone, that all that they need.
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:25amRight!! That is exactly why I have not upgraded my phone last three years…..and the one I have has a GPS device I’ve turned off except for 911 system……….IF that is true!!
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:26am.
Report Post »Smart Phones have GPS built in…………..
SacredHonor1776
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:35amI understand there is no way to turn off a phone, try can still track it even when it’s off!
Only removing the battery makes it untraceable.
Report Post »westy98530
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:35amSadly, smartphones aren’t any easier to track than ordinary cell phones. If you have any cell phone at all, you can be tracked.
Report Post »calamitykate
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:41amNeat Fact: that GPS feature is also linked to your smartphone camera, so that when you snap a pic, the picture is embedded with coding that says exactly when and where (with gps coordinates) you took it. The kicker? The coding is not even that difficult to break!
Example: if you take a picture of your car, and post it on Facebook, saying something like “Off to work,” an unskilled hacker could easily decode your picture to pinpoint where you live, know what you drive, and when you leave for work.
Scary. (For more information, I heard that the MythBusters also did an episode on this..)
Report Post »westy98530
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:01amTrue for twitter, picassa, flickr, etc, but Facebook scrubs all the EXIF data from uploaded pictures, so none of that GPS tagging is preserved. Your facebook albums are safe, but stay off twitter!
Report Post »jado1981
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:13am@ CalamityKate, I know on the iPhone, you can turn off any instance of GPS, and GeoTagging. Geotagging is what you are talking about by having the gps cordinates built into the pictures you take. You just go to the settings menu and disable it. Same story with the gps used to track your phone. Sure your device still has the gps chip in it, but it doesn’t work if it is disabled. Just to check, go to maps and press locate, it will say your position is undetermined.
Report Post »I leave mine off unless I’m out looking for something. I don’t need it on for normal day to day business.
GrumpyCat
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:36pmNo need for a smartphone. Cell towers know how far away you are by knowing the speed of light. If two towers can hear you then they know you are at one of two places. If a 3rd can also hear you then they know which of those 2 you are at.
If a warrant is not needed for a law officer to follow you, then I don’t see why a warrant is needed for a tracking device.
However I think if you find the tracking device then you own it. The act of placing it on your person or vehicle transfers ownership. If you find one then its yours to sell on eBay.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:17amOh boy… if this concerns you please watch this video. These people have WAY too much power:
Halocaust survivor gives account of incremantal steps of Hitler… truly AMAZING! This administration are NOT Marxists they are National Socialists! Her story is unbelievable and shows how Hitler’s propaganda convinced the populace to vote for and trust him.
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAvMHWhdEUU&feature=youtu.be
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:30amIndeed the courts will hopefully side with the rights of the people and not give another lever for the fed’s to use against us; of course with Obama he will just issure another executieve fiat and go the longer way around the courts and pretend their choices and decisions do not matter one wit…with him they do not.
Report Post »ozchambers
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:37amPlease say no.
Report Post »Please say no
Please say no…..
smithclar3nc3
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:39amThe Supreme court will rule against it and Obama will use the patriot act that he expanded under his adminstration to do it anyway.
Report Post »randy
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:47amthe police had no warrant for the GPS device they secretly installed on a man’s car.????
WHAT??????
Report Post »Someone needs to go to jail! And it isn’t the guy or girl that was driving the car.
VoteBushIn12
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:48amYou don’t want to be tracked via GPS? Then leave your iPhone at home or turn it off.
If you aren‘t doing anything wrong you shouldn’t care; they don‘t have the resources to check everyone’s location all the time. It’s really no different than them tracing a phone call, is that an invasion of privacy?
And stop with the Hitler references, it’s fair to say he had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth but that isn’t what made him evil. You sound like a bunch of juveniles when you bring that up. You can call this administration Nazis once they’ve killed 12 Million people. Until then shut it.
Report Post »DrFrost
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:00am@Votebushin12
“If you aren‘t doing anything wrong you shouldn’t care; they don‘t have the resources to check everyone’s location all the time. It’s really no different than them tracing a phone call, is that an invasion of privacy?” – Votebushin12
Yes. It’s an invasion of privacy. Which is why phone records are not a matter of public record and I can’t look yours up (and you can’t look up mine).
Report Post »YEAHYOURIGHT
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:03amObviously this should be illegal. The Supremes will rule correctly. Then the administration, in yet another insult to our way of life, will ignore the ruling and do whatever they want. Who will stop them?
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:08amThe liberals claimed the completely nazi like actions of bush were like the nazi’s. Now that we have someone in power that is actually using the nazi playbook to take freedom from us, it’s completely appropriate to point this out to the world every chance we have.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:11am@VoteBushIn12
So you’re telling us to “stfu” regarding our freedom of speech? Regarding a “warning sign” and telling others to be prepared? Interesting, snitch programs, massive spending, dwindling of rights, running car companies, banks, siding with unions and slandering citizens, unlawful tracking, bully tactics, lies, slander and smears. So you want us to wait for them to kill 12 million (60 million total) before we can say “told you so”? I guess I’ll go to the doctor after I am dead because all the cancer symptoms were just crazy talk…you are a DOPE!
Report Post »PER100
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:24amIts the lawsyers and the courts that are doing the worst damage to our country.
the question is simple.
Do the police need a warrent to tail somebody from place to place with a cop and a cruiser? Not sure, then the cops slipping a GPS tracker on to a car they would be following anyway is just a different method
Do the cops need a warrent for phone records and information before they even get to look at it let alone use it? yes they do
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:26amTHANK YOU for that video link. I had received an email letter this lady had written, but the video is great.
Report Post »DirtyMissouri
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:34amI am supprised that anyone is upset or startled that police dont need a search warrent to follow you.
Trackers have been used for decades, long before GPS came out. Do you also think that they need a search warrent to follow you in an unmarked car?
Remember they are trying to catch bad guys!
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:35amhow is this even being discussed? of course it’s not legal without a warrant. how can anyone even question it?
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:38am@vennoye
You’re welcome. We were at that Tea party for 3 hours and when she came on I was ready to leave and grab a bite to eat. However, as I was “packing up” I heard the first few moments and was mesmerized…I stayed for the entire speech! AWESOME and scary..
BTW, is that your dog? We have a 3 yr old sable Collie. Great dogs except for the shedding and barking.
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:42am@VoteBushIn12
Report Post »You MIGHT be right, IF, we had not had 100 years of trashing our Republic and making it into a Democracy. In a Republic, the law of the land is what ALL people live by….but a Democracy, the people decide. They decide what laws they will enforce and what laws they will ignore. SOOOOOO a Democracy becomes mob rule….whatever is the enforced law today can change in just a signature on an Executive Order. SO whatever is “nothing wrong” today may be a punishable offence tomorrow. GROW UP and face reality!!!!
Mike Westfall No Hiding
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:47am@VOTEBUSHIN2012
You are an unsophicated hack job. The reason why people like me and others react the way we do is because we are remaining viligent to defend our liberty. Liberty is freedom from an opressive and unruly government. Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are in that order for a specific reason.
The 9th amendment as validated in many cases over the years by the Supreme Court that right to privacy is a basic human right. The right to privacy is further supported by the 3rd, 4th and 5th amendments. Here is the text from our Constitution which he loves to trample over:
9th
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
3rd
“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”
4th
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
5th
Report Post »“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual se
vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:53am@cessna152
Report Post »Thanks……yes, that is my Sheltie, she is 4 years old. You are right on about the shedding and barking!! They bark at the wind, and have such an undercoat of hair that you constantly need to brush it away, and still don’t get it all. But they are such great dogs and their temperment cannot be beat!! Have had Shelties for 20 years–great companions!!
vennoye
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 11:55amSorry, offense……
Report Post »1TrueOne55
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:41pm@Bushin12: Dietrich Bonhoefer is all I have to say. If you want to ignore those telling you the bridge is out as you drive in to the gorge whose fault is it if you die at bottom. It is always the messenger that is ridiculed until his message comes true.
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 2:33pmOf course, it’s illegal.
The Supreme Court doesn’t care. They’re in league with the people trampling all over our rights. They are giving them free reign despite the law, and that‘s what makes the Supreme Court irrelevant and I don’t have to follow their dictates.
They think they can just do whatever the hell they want because a judge says so.
Me and my firearms beg to differ.
They’re our servants, and we say NO.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 2:52pmLet‘s remember this is still the Bush’s court. A policy closely related to his wonderfully democratic Patriot Act.
Report Post »imreddog
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 7:10pmDoes anybody want to make a wager on the decision? The government is hell-bent on destroying the Constitution and they are doing a pretty good job. Second ammendment anyone?
Report Post »silentwatcher
Posted on June 27, 2011 at 9:10pmShould be first fighting the legality of the police copying the contents or confiscating/reading/destroying cell phones. That is more immediate.
Report Post »BlueStrat
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 12:16amThis *should* be an easy legal test (if the Constitution has any meaning left) by asking this simple question:
“May any citizen place a tracking device on the vehicle used by law enforcement/government/politicians?”
If the answer is “NO!” then they may not do the same to a citizen without judicial oversight in the form of a warrant based upon probable cause based on legally-obtained evidence.
Nobody is above the law, and individuals in law enforcement have *ONLY* those powers that every citizens has, unless and until a judge determines that evidence of a crime exists that is sufficient to warrant violating the Rights and Protections guaranteed to every citizen equally in the Constitution.
I would strongly recommend Clarence Thomas carefully inspect his personal vehicles on a daily basis.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on June 28, 2011 at 9:34am@smithclar3nc3 and @yeahyourright – you are both correct.
The SCOTUS will rule correctly, that it is an invasion of privacy, but, obama and any other ‘progressives’, including RINO’s, WILL use the patriot act or some other means to do it anyway.
Let’s remember we need to elect more TEA candidates in 2012 for congress and for state offices, not just the POTUS. Get out in your communities and recruit TEA candidates for ALL public offices!!!
Report Post »