Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars

[wiegie]

Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars

By Dugald McConnell, CNN

August 27, 2010 9:26 a.m. EDT

 

(CNN) -- Law enforcement officers may secretly place a GPS device on a person's car without seeking a warrant from a judge, according to a recent federal appeals court ruling in California.

 

Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Oregon in 2007 surreptitiously attached a GPS to the silver Jeep owned by Juan Pineda-Moreno, whom they suspected of growing Josh Gordon, according to court papers.

 

When Pineda-Moreno was arrested and charged, one piece of evidence was the GPS data, including the longitude and latitude of where the Jeep was driven, and how long it stayed. Prosecutors asserted the Jeep had been driven several times to remote rural locations where agents discovered Josh Gordon being grown, court documents show.

 

Pineda-Moreno eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to grow Josh Gordon, and is serving a 51-month sentence, according to his lawyer.

 

But he appealed on the grounds that sneaking onto a person's driveway and secretly tracking their car violates a person's reasonable expectation of privacy.

 

"They went onto the property several times in the middle of the night without his knowledge and without his permission," said his lawyer, Harrison Latto.

 

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal twice -- in January of this year by a three-judge panel, and then again by the full court earlier this month. The judges who affirmed Pineda-Moreno's conviction did so without comment.

 

Latto says the Ninth Circuit decision means law enforcement can place trackers on cars, without seeking a court's permission, in the nine western states the California-based circuit covers.

 

The ruling likely won't be the end of the matter. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., arrived at a different conclusion in similar case, saying officers who attached a GPS to the car of a suspected drug dealer should have sought a warrant.

 

Experts say the issue could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

One of the dissenting judges in Pineda-Moreno's case, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, said the defendant's driveway was private and that the decision would allow police to use tactics he called "creepy" and "underhanded."

 

"The vast majority of the 60 million people living in the Ninth Circuit will see their privacy materially diminished by the panel's ruling," Kozinksi wrote in his dissent.

 

"I think it is Orwellian," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which advocates for privacy rights.

 

"If the courts allow the police to gather up this information without a warrant," he said, "the police could place a tracking device on any individual's car -- without having to ever justify the reason they did that."

 

But supporters of the decision see the GPS trackers as a law enforcement tool that is no more intrusive than other means of surveillance, such as visually following a person, that do not require a court's approval.

 

"You left place A, at this time, you went to place B, you took this street -- that information can be gleaned in a variety of ways," said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department attorney. "It can be old surveillance, by tailing you unbeknownst to you; it could be a GPS."

 

He says that a person cannot automatically expect privacy just because something is on private property.

 

"You have to take measures -- to build a fence, to put the car in the garage" or post a no-trespassing sign, he said. "If you don't do that, you're not going to get the privacy."

This is not good.

[Big John]

Another step down the slippery slope

[polksalet]

Hope and Change

 

Allah Akbar

[Kid Cid]

Hope and Change

 

Allah Akbar

This has nothing to do with that and you know it.

 

It is just the state once more taking another small step into your life while all the people just blithely say, "oh, I'm not breaking the law, it doesn't affect me!" I call Bullchit. Every aspect of our personal freedoms are being eroded on a daily basis either by the government or private business. In a way, I'll be happy when I'm dead because at least then I will no longer have to watch one of the greatest constructs of human beings be pulled apart due to the apathy and laziness of the average individual.

[TimC]

No one ever really wants to overthrow the Government anymore. It was so much better back in the day when the Feds would get kicked out every other decade or so after 1776.

[polksalet]

This has nothing to do with that and you know it.

 

It is just the state once more taking another small step into your life while all the people just blithely say, "oh, I'm not breaking the law, it doesn't affect me!" I call Bullchit. Every aspect of our personal freedoms are being eroded on a daily basis either by the government or private business. In a way, I'll be happy when I'm dead because at least then I will no longer have to watch one of the greatest constructs of human beings be pulled apart due to the apathy and laziness of the average individual.

 

Hope and Change = Greater state control

 

Am I wrong?

[billay]

Hope and Change = Greater state control

 

Am I wrong?

The supreme court was expanding the scope of law enforcement power long before Obama was President.

[Kid Cid]

Hope and Change = Greater state control

 

Am I wrong?

 

 

The supreme court was expanding the scope of law enforcement power long before Obama was President.

Billay has it exactly right. So while he hasn't done anything to curb the encroachment of the federal government in your private life, he didn't start it and he hasn't actually advocated it either.

[Ursa Majoris]

All those defending the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping will be up in arms about this. Why? I wonder.

[The Holy Roller]

There's already a GPS in your car if you're using any kind of mobile service. Your car will also reveal how fast or how far you have driven given the information stored away in your auto's computer. We have given away our right to privacy incrementally for a long time. The Patriot Act is only another step in that direction.

[dmarc117]

There's already a GPS in your car if you're using any kind of mobile service. Your car will also reveal how fast or how far you have driven given the information stored away in your auto's computer. We have given away our right to privacy incrementally for a long time. The Patriot Act is only another step in that direction.

 

 

this. any cellphone too. they can track your location by tower hits.

[SEC=UGA]

All those defending the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping will be up in arms about this. Why? I wonder.

 

I think this is no less dangerous than a lot of crap in the Patriot Act, which I adamantly oppose... Catchy name, though, don't ya think.

[wiegie]

For what it's worth, if you read the article, you will see that a federal court in Washington D.C. made an opposite ruling not too long ago. This is possibly headed for the Supreme Court sometime.

[yo mama]

For what it's worth, if you read the article, you will see that a federal court in Washington D.C. made an opposite ruling not too long ago. This is possibly headed for the Supreme Court sometime.

Maybe. It seems like every other week here in California authorities are busting up some Josh Gordon growing operation in remote outdoor areas, which is usually organized by Mexican drug cartels. Speaking as a citizen who actually enjoys backpacking and camping in those same areas, I don't mind at all that the government is aggressively addressing the problem. But on the other hand, it doesn't seem like a warrant is too much to ask for, barring exigent circumstances.

Edited August 27, 2010 by yo mama

[polksalet]

this. any cellphone too. they can track your location by tower hits.

 

to approximately 12,000 feet

[dmarc117]

to approximately 12,000 feet

 

 

triangulation

[polksalet]

triangulation

 

thats using trilateration, You can't triangulate with cell towers.

[Savage Beatings]

You had me at The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. What a joke this group of human beings have become.

[dmarc117]

thats using trilateration, You can't triangulate with cell towers.

 

 

the govt can do whatever they want

[yo mama]

You had me at The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. What a joke this group of human beings have become.

What's your beef with the Ninth Circuit?

[TimC]

What's your beef with the Ninth Circuit?

 

Because they are the typical California idiots that think Pelosi is a heckuva choice.

[wiegie]

But on the other hand, it doesn't seem like a warrant is too much to ask for, barring exigent circumstances.

bingo

[Savage Beatings]

What's your beef with the Ninth Circuit?

 

Just about every really obviously bad decision in recent memory seems to come from this court. They take Judicial Activism to a ridiculous level.

[westvirginia]

All those defending the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping will be up in arms about this. Why? I wonder.

 

Probably, just like the sheople who were up in arms when shrub enacted patsy but : when obamessiah continues it.

 

Yes, the cell phone thing is valid HR, but the issue is you have to have a warrant for any kind of phone tap or to collect phone records. You also have to have a warrant to cut into someone's car for the black box information. The fact that this can be done without so much as thinking about a judge is awful - it's not hyperbole to say this is Gestapo/KGB tactics.

[yo mama]

Just about every really obviously bad decision in recent memory seems to come from this court. They take Judicial Activism to a ridiculous level.

For example?