Posted on 05/10/2009 6:41:21 PM PDT by Huntress
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
However, the District 4 Court of Appeals said it was "more than a little troubled" by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals.
As the law currently stands, the court said police can mount GPS on cars to track people without violating their constitutional rights -- even if the drivers aren't suspects.
Officers do not need to get warrants beforehand because GPS tracking does not involve a search or a seizure, Judge Paul Lundsten wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel based in Madison.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Yes.
Truly frightening.
I find the decision most troubling, because the court would not have had to rule on legality and constitutionality the police using a GPS device without a warrant. In this case, the police did obtain a warrant to track the defendant, and the defendant's appeal challenged the validity of the warrant. Instead of simply upholding the validity of the warrant, the court, at the state's urging, gratuitously held that the state did not need a warrant in this case. The court overstepped its bounds by addressing an issue that was not properly before it.
Just to clearify here. Onstar DOES have GPS. Onstar was originally Analog, But all Current systems are Digital and older systems in use have been upgraded to digital as analog is no longer supported. (I did several of these upgrades myself).Onstar may very well have memory of your locations as they can track a stolen car.On stars brains are not in the ECM(engine control module)but in the Onstar module itself.I beleive they probably could listen in on an inactive onstar system if they so desired as 911 capability is usually available on inactive cell phones.
But now if you were a personal injury attorney and put one on each ambulance in town, think of the leads it could generate.
Sex offenders and pedophiles will soon be a protected class.
I guess the feds will soon be arresting the Wisconsin police.
I’d destroy it and then look for the second one. And then maybe the third one.
Bring it! Bring friends too! Should be a party .................... FRegards
Short of physical (visual) search of your car, there is no way to "scan" for passive GPS receivers. The reason is simple - they do not transmit anything, they only receive.
But in order to receive they need an antenna that sees the sky (the GPS band is about 1.55 GHz and the line-of-sight propagation is required.) This means that there are only few good locations of those trackers (or their antennas, at least.)
There are also trackers that use cell phone networks to report your movements. These do transmit occasionally; however it's not known when they do so, and some networks (CDMA) are hard to detect reliably, due to low power of the transmitter and the wide band of the transmission.
Tracker and a GPS antenna.
Such a tracker can provide a great alibi for a criminal, as long as he uses another vehicle for a crime. GPS tracker does not know who is driving what car.
Well, that's a great question, and I really don't know if you can get away with it or not, but what I do know is that your vehicle DOES have a speed recorder in it, if it's less that about 7 years old, that records the speed of your vehicle during an airbag deployment. This is built into the computer, and is almost, or completely, permanent.....
Imagine if civilians put GPS trackers onto the cars belonging to LEOs.
They would go berserk.
One set of rules for the masters, another for the peons.
Not you too?!
Hey, it was fun when we were just chaining their rear-axles to fire hydrants.
But with these FWD - POS cars they drive now, I guess it's better than nothin' ................ FRegards
OK ,, I can believe most of what you say... my “hands on” OnStar knowledge is a bit old ... I’m quite sure they have converted to CDMA/TDMA or GSM for their cellular service as analog towers no longer give adequate coverage.
If OnStar indeed has GPS why does GM advertise that you get driving directions from a live person... someone on the phone has to tell you when to turn and on what roads ... Do they install GPS positioning (to give the OnStar operator your position) but fail to install a simple 4.3” lcd screen?
You’re right about the brains of OnStar ,, they used to be in the “body” computer (most post 1996/OBD2 cars have 3 computers) .. The engine computer handles the engine and drivetrain ,, the body computer handles the electronic component diag for the body and also the airbags/seatbelt pretensioners and the final computer handles the anti-lock brake system and stability control (if installed).
Sounds good, but how does one spot the GPS device to begin with?
Take into consideration an officer does not want to be seen. Therefore the GPS device will be placed in an easy accessible location. If one has left their vehicle for any amount time,always perform a vehicle inspection after arriving home with a flash light. When in doubt, put your vehicle on ramps or jack it up! I'm am confident the illegal GPS device will be located!
We would be noting numerous stationary periods at certain doughnut emporiums.
LOL! yeah baby!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.