Every move we make:
The Supreme Court is considering whether police use of GPS devices to track criminal suspects requires a judge's advance approval.
The case being argued Tuesday could have implications for other high-tech surveillance techniques in the digital age.
[. . .]
The government argues that people have no expectation of privacy concerning their travel on public streets.
Don't know about that. Yes, they're public streets, but we use them to go to and from private businesses and residences. In the case in question, the government tracking was able to tie the suspect to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs (good background on the case here).
And the more sophisticated the technology becomes, shouldn't we be more and more vigilant about insisting on our zone of privacy, even extending it if we can, and absolutely ruthless about demanding proof of reasonable suspicion (i.e. a warrant)? With some of the cameras and microphones available now, every detail of what we do can be recorded from so far away we'd never suspect a thing.
Comments
The difference between a fixed camera and a tracking devise is that you can see the fixed camera if you look for them and they are located on public property or private property. When you are in public your expectation of privacy is reduced to zero. Federal courts have upheld the taking of photographs and video of any thing that can be seen from public property.
The tracking device however was attached not to a public vehicle, but a private vehicle. To me this could be grounds for trespass.
I am all for going after criminals, but I think they are crossing the line here. Who is going to decide who gets a tracking device?
Leo:
It's NEVER about what YOU think is "reasonable"...
It's about what THEY think is reasonable...period.
(and get off THEIR lawn...lol)
;)
William, what about tracking a suspect by using the signals from his own iPhone, a GPS-enabled device. That's obviously not trespass, since the guy chose to carry it, and chooses to have it "on".
A few episodes of "Car Talk" ago, Click & Clack talked to a listener who thought her husband put a secret GPS sending unit on her car in order to gather evidence for an upcoming divorce case. They discussed playing games with it, such as positioning it to make it look like she was spending all night at his best friend's home.
It's said you can go from from Boston to the White House without ever leaving the field of vision of one or another security cameras. I'd kinda like to put up signs warning "Smile - You're On Webcam" on my street - it's narrow, and in the last 6 years, I've lost 6 mirrors or taillights on the left side of my vehicles. But if they hired people to watch all those cameras, the unemployment rate would immediately drop below 1%.
"what about tracking a suspect by using the signals from his own iPhone, a GPS-enabled device." I do not have a cell phone so I am not sure of their capability. I would think that the instructions on the use of the cell phone should alert you to the fact of this capability.
As for a wife putting allowing a tracker to be placed on a car, I would suspect the car is registered in both names. I could be wrong.
Your suggestion on the sign "Smile You're on Web Cam" is good.
The world is becoming smaller.
Are you kidding? Most companies don't even bother to mention it, and it doesn't matter if you turn GPS off. GPS just makes the tracking more precise, location can always be obtained from tower connection records, which aren't even on the phone. But Apple's been the worst:
"Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go
They used to sell radios you could use to pick up cellular transmissions. Today, it's illegal to have one, or even to build your own, but I suspect there are a lot of people who do, anyhow. So in addition to positioning, people are going to listen in.
According to Tom Clancy, the NSA records every phone call that originates or ends with an area code 202 landline, and filters through them with computers, looking for specific voices, and listening for certain words. Don't know if it's true, but I'd think they be doing ALL area codes by now.
I use VoIP instead of landline, and I hope nobody is listening in, because they'd be bored out of their minds.
I thought about setting up a webmail site where you had to connect with HTTPS for security, and no inbound or outbound mail was permitted, so messages would be secured from one end to the other. If you and your girlfriend both had accounts, you could leave messages without your wife or her boyfriend finding out! But that sounds like work, and I'm retired.
Done.
"LAS VEGAS