EFF: Court Rejects Warrantless GPS Tracking [telecom]

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- this gets into the telecom field because, among other issues, we've got all those cell phones and related communications instruments that include geo-tracking capability... -------- [EFF press release]

August 6th, 2010 Court Rejects Warrantless GPS Tracking

EFF-ACLU Arguments Against Always-On Surveillance Win The Day

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today firmly rejected government claims that federal agents have an unfettered right to install Global Positioning System (GPS) location-tracking devices on anyone's car without a search warrant.

In United States v. Maynard, FBI agents planted a GPS device on a car while it was on private property and then used it to track the position of the automobile every ten seconds for a full month, all without securing a search warrant. .... The court agreed that such round-the-clock surveillance required a search warrant based on probable cause. The court expressly rejected the government's argument that such extended, 24-hours-per-day surveillance without warrants was constitutional based on previous rulings about limited, point-to-point surveillance of public activities using radio-based tracking beepers. Recognizing that the Supreme Court had never considered location tracking of such length and scope, the court noted: "When it comes to privacy...the whole may be more revealing than its parts."

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