The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2013150,00.html ^

[Paladin2]

Pull the battery.

[Nervous Tick]

>> It doesn’t make sense

Yes, and there’s a REASON it doesn’t make sense.

If you know what I mean (and I think you do).

[The Antiyuppie]

It will probably contain a SIM card. It might be “fun” to put it in a disposable cell phone and start making phone calls to Iran, Libya, or North Korea.

[Paladin2]

"Got a tollway transponder? You have already tagged your vehicle for the government. "

Yep, but I keep it in a metalized baggy except for the occasional use.

[Mad Dawgg]

"It seems, then, that you could electronically sweep your car for broadcasting devices** — and if you find one, it’s yours!"

if I did find one I would go find Someone in Code Pink Or Green Peace or ELF and stick it on one of their SUVs.

[Hodar]

If not you need to educate yourself on the modern cell phone

Again, I know the possiblity exists; I'm an electrical engineer. I know they CAN. What I do not know is if they HAVE done this. Thus far, as far as I know, this is one line that the justice department has not crossed..... yet.

[easelpad]

Umm, this article is incorrect - the Judge and the ruling specifically say that you *can’t* use GPS without a warrant.... see excerpt below or full article here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080604946.html?hpid=topnews

A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Friday that police cannot use a Global Positioning System device to track a person’s movements for an extended time without a warrant, clearing the way for the Supreme Court to decide the privacy impact of the new surveillance technology in products such as cellphones and vehicle-navigation systems.

The decision, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, created a split with federal circuit courts in New York and California that have upheld warrantless GPS tracking of a vehicle by law enforcement. Feeding the national debate, a half-dozen state courts have issued conflicting rulings, while police across the country embrace GPS tools in hunting drug dealers, sexual predators and violent criminals.

In striking down the drug conviction of Antoine Jones, former co-owner of a District nightclub called Levels, the D.C. court said the FBI and District police overstepped their authority by tracking his movements round-the-clock for four weeks, placing a GPS monitoring device on his Jeep after an initial warrant had expired.

[Chode]

when i can put one on a cop car... have at it

privacy aside, where does personal property laws come into play if they can tamper with your possessions???

[verity]

Are you concealing a still? :-)

[IMR 4350]

I’ve had feds follow me around.

It gets real old real fast.

[kickonly88]

If they want to do this to me they had better use some super adhesive as my stroker Shovelhead powered chop is kind of like that old ‘50’s song; shake ,rattle and roll.

[ArmstedFragg]

Actually, the ninth narrowed the circumstances in which tracking devices can be used. The standard has been that whatever they could accomplish by following you they can accomplish with a tracker. The court added the question of whether it’d financially feasable to follow you. They’re setting the line between tracking an individual suspect for a brief period and doing “sweep tracking”, or tracking for long periods of time without some individualized suspicion that the guy’s about to do something.

[freedomtrail]

They can track anyone with a cell phone.Even when it is turned off. Anyone.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

OK ... well, let’s see. Today I went to Publix, then to Wal*Mart for a couple of items, was home most of the afternoon then went to Outback for supper and am now back home. Yep, pretty scary having the gov know that. The only scary thing is, if they are “watching me” ... am I paying for it, and if they are watching me, who’s watching the bad guys?

[GladesGuru]

Now don’t go getting testy on anyone. When the nice goober ropes down from his silenced rotor black helicopter, just wait for him to leave, run a long handled mirror under the car to find the GPS, and put it on the rear bumper of Dippy the Hippy’s van.

;-)

Or, any ACLU landshark’s bumper will do

[sionnsar]

Or a city councilman’s vehicle.

There's the answer!

[Wayne07]

I took the time to look it up because it makes no sense. The only references to using phones that are turned off are based on a news stories posted on an ABC blog, and on CNET:

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1029_3-6140191.html

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/12/can_you_hear_me.html

Both articles interpret the judge's decision judge saying that "FBI has the ability from a remote location to activate a cell phone and turn its microphone into a listening device that transmits to an FBI listening post"

However, it is clearly mistaken if you read the actual judges report, he actually states that the FBI placed a physical bug inside the cell phone.

Judge Jones granted the application, authorizing continued interception at the four restaurants and the installation of a listening device in Ardito's cellular telephone. The device functioned whether the phone was powered on or off, intercepting conversations within its range wherever it happened to be.

http://www.politechbot.com/docs/fbi.ardito.roving.bug.opinion.120106.txt

[Rashputin]

Track them back. Mount something on every elected official and see what all they're up to. How you make that happen, I don't know (yet), but I'll bet the 9th would be overturned in a heartbeat were this sort of tracking done to some of the better known pols and reported in detail online. Even the off chance the police would do it to them would scare them enough to do whatever it takes to keep it from happening, even something as silly as other citizens from it.

Regards

[untrained skeptic]

For me, the death knell for On*Star was the case where the gov’t used this device to listen to a drug dealer, then used On*Star to track make his deliveries.

This was property that was owned by the criminal, was then used against him (with a court order and Search Warrant); but my view is simple. On*Star violated a trust, thus no vehicle of mine will EVER have that product installed on it.

If they had a properly attained warrant, then I don't think On*Star or the government did anything wrong. It's when such info starts being attainable by the government with only a subpoena that I get really worried.

If they can get a warrant, using On*Star is basically a matter of convenience, and it saves them money over having to plant a bug and tracking device on or in your car.

The instant I hear of a cell phone that is similarly used to monitor my personal conversations and track my movements, I will return to a home phone and forsake the cell phone.

You can always turn your cell phone off when you aren't using it. A prepaid phone is harder for the government to tie to you and get a warrant to intercept your calls or get tracking info, but probably only if you don't use it much.

[lgjhn23]

If you find one on your vehicle, just take it to the nearest local truck stop and put it on the first east or west bound FreightLliner you find. Let em chase that thing to the other side of the country....LOL