The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves

[13Gigatons]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2013150,00.html

So much for liberty...

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway — and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.
That is the bizarre — and scary — rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants — with no need for a search warrant.



It is a dangerous decision — one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich.

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[zerocool84]

If you have a modern smartphone, you're already being tracked.

 

[OCGuy]

Its in P&N. And it is the 9th circuit....so it will probably be overturned.

 

[JS80]

Bush is a fascist! Patriot act! Rabble rabble!

OH WAIT.

 

[Eli]

Damn wtf?

I thought you had a reasonable expectation of privacy no matter where you are. Isn't the point that it's your property?

What if you park in your garage? You would be safe then?

This is bizarre.

<music>
Oh Canada...
</music>

 

[bruceb]

In cell phones, you have the option to turn off GPS location service. I have mine set to OFF except when I dial 911 .. then you want it to be ON in case you are in a wreck and they need to know where you are to send help. If you have a GM car with On-Star, you can also be tracked. As to coming onto your property and installing a GPS tracker, that sounds mighty illegal to me. They would need some sort of surveillance warrant, similar to wiretap laws. And they would need "just cause" to do it, not just because they want to.

 

[spidey07]

An interesting point is could you get 10 years in prison for destroying government property if you took it off and threw it in a river?

 

[911paramedic]

An interesting point is could you get 10 years in prison for destroying government property if you took it off and threw it in a river?

Can you sneak into their driveways and put one on their car?

 

[GoSharks]

In cell phones, you have the option to turn off GPS location service. I have mine set to OFF except when I dial 911 .. then you want it to be ON in case you are in a wreck and they need to know where you are to send help.

Link?

 

[zerocool84]

In cell phones, you have the option to turn off GPS location service. I have mine set to OFF except when I dial 911 .. then you want it to be ON in case you are in a wreck and they need to know where you are to send help. If you have a GM car with On-Star, you can also be tracked. As to coming onto your property and installing a GPS tracker, that sounds mighty illegal to me. They would need some sort of surveillance warrant, similar to wiretap laws. And they would need "just cause" to do it, not just because they want to.

Your GPS may be off but they can still track you with the towers.

 

[spidey07]

Link?

Most all phones have had this option for the last 10+ years.

 

[SparkyJJO]

An interesting point is could you get 10 years in prison for destroying government property if you took it off and threw it in a river?

Or stick it on your neighbor's lawnmower

Your GPS may be off but they can still track you with the towers.

Triangulation via cell towers is a much slower process, and if you're moving it makes it that much harder.

 

[GoSharks]

Most all phones have had this option for the last 10+ years.

Was asking more along the lines of can they actually read your GPS remotely.

 

[Fritzo]

OK, so they CAN do this. But why would they want to? I swear there is a growing population in this country that is so damn paranoid about privacy issues----here's a news flash:

IF YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO F****ING INTEREST IN WHAT YOU'RE DOING

 

[Analog]

OK, so they CAN do this. But why would they want to? I swear there is a growing population in this country that is so damn paranoid about privacy issues----here's a news flash:

IF YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO F****ING INTEREST IN WHAT YOU'RE DOING

That's what Hitler said.

 

[spidey07]

Was asking more along the lines of can they actually read your GPS remotely.

All cell services can approximate your location because of 911.

 

[zCypher]

OK, so they CAN do this. But why would they want to? I swear there is a growing population in this country that is so damn paranoid about privacy issues----here's a news flash:

IF YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO F****ING INTEREST IN WHAT YOU'RE DOING

lol

 

[Eli]

OK, so they CAN do this. But why would they want to? I swear there is a growing population in this country that is so damn paranoid about privacy issues----here's a news flash:

IF YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO F****ING INTEREST IN WHAT YOU'RE DOING

Seriously?

This snow covered slope sure is fun.. Weeeeeeeeeeee!

 

[Patranus]

In cell phones, you have the option to turn off GPS location service. I have mine set to OFF except when I dial 911.

You are assuming that when you set it to "off" it is actually off and not just "off".

 

[Bignate603]

You know what they would do if it was illegal to track you by GPS? They'd tail you instead. If they want to follow where you're going they'll do it.

 

[quakefiend420]

OK, so they CAN do this. But why would they want to? I swear there is a growing population in this country that is so damn paranoid about privacy issues----here's a news flash:

IF YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO F****ING INTEREST IN WHAT YOU'RE DOING

what's not illegal now may be illegal in the future...

go to china you fucking commie

 

[Fritzo]

That's what Hitler said.

No, Hitler said "I think if we breed a race of perfect humans, we can take over the world, and I get to decide what is perfect."

HUGE difference there.

BTW- In a case of ultimate irony, they've uncovered that Hitler was Jewish:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...had-jewish-african-roots-daily-mail-says.html

 

[Bateluer]

You know what they would do if it was illegal to track you by GPS? They'd tail you instead. If they want to follow where you're going they'll do it.

They didn't have a warrant. If they'd suspected an individual was guilty of a crime, they should have gone to a judge, presented their evidence, and gotten a search warrant.

I'd say this guy has a hell of a defense and is going to get cleared of all charges.

 

[Fritzo]

what's not illegal now may be illegal in the future...

go to china you fucking commie

So, you seriously think that "the government" (which is a cover-all term---nobody ever names a specific branch of government that would do this) would spend hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on common people just to monitor exciting things like:

- Go to the grocery store
- Fill the car with gas
- Buy clothes at the mall
- Stop at the bank
- Go to an Italian restaurant
- Take Jimmy to football practice
- Listen in on grandma's secret goulash recipe
etc...

Do you think they have this huge database named "Mundane Things We Track That May Be Useful One Day" or something? They don't have the manpower to track all of the serious criminals, much less mom going to the salon.

 

[DrPizza]

So, by extension, the police have no reasonable expectation of privacy when the police cars are parked wherever they park them, be it the Dunken Donuts parking lot, or wherever. A criminal could attach devices to every police car in his city and monitor where they are at all times. If he wants to rob a bank... Oh no, not now, there's a squad car 3 blocks away. Okay, now the closest car is 4 miles from that bank. Go go go go!