Spying On Snookums With GPS

from the a-growing-trend? dept

Earlier this week, we had the story of a guy arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend by installing a GPS device in her car. It seems he's not the only one doing such things. Wired has an article saying that plenty of not-so-trusting people are hooking up a GPS system in their spouse's car. The legalities of all this aren't totally clear. In the stalking case, there were plenty of things that were clearly illegal. But, with a spouse, it's not so clear. The people quoted in the article basically say that it will depend on local laws and what the various courts decide, since there's no clear precedent yet. In a related story, it seems that police are leaving GPS-enabled "baited" cars waiting for them to be stolen, so they can catch car theives. There's some question as to whether or not this counts as entrapment, but they say it's fine since the police didn't push anyone to commit an illegal act - they just made it easier for someone to do so. No matter what, it seems clear that GPS devices in cars are starting to reach many more people.
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