Feds Tell Supreme Court They Should Be Able To Stick A GPS Device On Your Car Without A Warrant

from the 4th-amendment,-what's-that? dept

In the federal government's apparent ongoing quest to stamp out any remnants of the 4th Amendment, the administration has now officially petitioned the Supreme Court to let it stick GPS devices on cars with no warrant. This seems like the sort of case that the Supreme Court will actually be interested in hearing. That's because a variety of federal courts have ruled that it's legal to put a tracking device on your car without a warrant... However, last summer, the DC Circuit appeals court said that such GPS tracking, if done for a long time, crosses the line and becomes illegal. The standard the court used was pretty vague, but now there's something of a circuit split, and that's what generally interests the Supreme Court.

Either way, the government's position is clear: it shouldn't need a warrant to track you. The feds seem to be playing a bit of a questionable game with your privacy here. They claim that you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in your daily movements. To some extent that's true. If you're out in public, and people can see you, then it's not private. But the real question here is somewhat more complex: if you don't see anyone following you, do you have an expectation of privacy in your long-term aggregate movements? I would think there's a much stronger argument there. I would think that just being spotted in public, or even followed in public, is reasonable as there's no real expectation of privacy. But the calculus may, in fact, change when we're talking about the aggregate information of pretty much all of your daily movements over a long term... especially when the person might never realize that anyone is watching them. In such situations, it seems like there is an expectation of privacy about that aggregate info.

Other than the DC court, however, most courts haven't recognized that difference between snippets of daily movements and the aggregation of daily movements. If I had to guess, I'd say that the Supreme Court won't recognize the difference either, and yet another prong of the 4th Amendment will disappear forever.

Filed Under: 4th amendment, gps, privacy, warrant

Student Who Found GPS Device On His Car Due To Reddit Comment Sues The FBI

from the don't-mess-with-reddit dept

Last fall, we wrote about the bizarre situation of Yasir Afifi, a student here in California who discovered a GPS tracking device on his car during an oil change, and then posted photos of the device on Reddit. Following that, the FBI showed up at his house demanding the tracking device back. It later turned out that the key reason behind tracking him was a random comment on Reddit that -- if read in context -- did not represent any kind of threat or warning that should have resulted in FBI surveillance. But, of course, since there's almost no oversight on who the FBI gets to spy on, it didn't care and just started tracking Afifi.

Afifi has now sued the government over the tracking action, claiming that it was a violation of his civil rights. There are some differences of opinion in the courts over whether or not the government needs a warrant to place GPS devices on cars, which provides some background for this case. There's a bit of a circuit split on that right now, with the government (obviously) insisting that no warrant is needed. Part of the goal of this lawsuit appears to be to get another ruling on this issue to push it forward. Given the history on this subject, I would guess that Afifi will likely lose the lawsuit, but the possibility that it actually does go in his favor makes the case worth paying attention to.

Filed Under: fbi, gps, tracking, warrant, yasir afifi

Senator Wyden Proposing Legislation Requiring Warrants For Law Enforcement To Get Device Location Info

from the good-for-him dept

Senator Ron Wyden is quickly becoming a politician to be proud of on issues that we feel are important. We've already seen him single-handedly stand up to COICA (and forcefully stand behind that position after facing ridiculous lobbying pressure). He also was one of a very small number of US politicians who has publicly expressed concerns about ACTA. But it's not just on copyright issues. Senator Wyden is now proposing a new law that would require that law enforcement get a warrant before being able to get location info from mobile devices.

While there are still some differing opinions in the courts on the legality of obtaining location info without a warrant, law enforcement has pushed hard to not need a warrant to get such info, preferring to just use a subpoena (basically just asking with no real judicial review). Wyden believes this is wrong, and a violation of basic privacy principles:

"If you asked most Americans, I think they would tell you that surreptitiously turning somebody's cell phone into a modern-day tracking device ... and using it to monitor their movements, 24/7, is a pretty serious intrusion into their privacy, pretty much comparable to searching their house or tapping their phone calls."

It's so rare to see a politician say things we agree with that it seems worth highlighting. Who knows if this will actually get anywhere (chances are it won't), but Wyden still deserves kudos.

Filed Under: location info, probable cause, ron wyden, warrant

Massachusetts Says Cops Need Warrant To Stick GPS Device On Your Car

from the that-makes-two-states dept

For the past few years, it's become increasingly common for police to put GPS devices on suspects' cars to track where they are. But, that's kicked up a bunch of legal questions concerning whether or not it's legal to do that without a warrant. So far, the courts have not really agreed. Earlier this year, we saw one court (a federal appeals court, 4th circuit) say that police didn't need a warrant, but then, just days later, a court in NY ruled the other way, saying that it was a violation of the 4th Amendment. Now, the state Supreme Court in Massachusetts has weighed in as well, again saying that a warrant is needed to put a GPS device on your car. So that makes NY and Massachusetts as states where police can't randomly stick GPS devices on your car. The other 48 states? Good luck...

Filed Under: gps, massachusetts, police, warrant

Use A Command Line At Boston College... Have Your Computer Equipment Confiscated

from the that-doesn't-seem-right dept

A bunch of folks have submitted various versions of a story in Boston, involving Boston College police being granted a warrant which they used to confiscate the computers of a student as part of an investigation over an email sent to a mailing list. The troubling part is that the warrant was given without any real reason. In fact, part of the warrant application focused on the scary fact that the student in question used a command line on his computer:

Mr. Calixte uses two different operating systems to hide his illegal activities. One is the regular B.C. operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.

There are other accusations in the filing, but reading through it, it seems clear that this is a pure fishing expedition by the police, rather than any real probable cause. Luckily, the EFF is now representing the student, pointing out how this appears to be a pretty significant violation of the student's rights.

Filed Under: boston college, command line, confiscated, warrant