"The idea that you can go and attach anything you want to somebody else's property without any court supervision, that's wrong," he said. "Without a warrant, they can do this on anybody they want."
For once, I agree with the ACLU.
It’s such a simple concept/scenario that even the ACLU can get it right.
It sure seems like “search.”
If I attached a GPS tracker to the police chiefs car and it was discovered and traced back to me the police would say it is a “suspicious device” “possible bomb” a “threat” and I’d have so many stacked charges against me I’d never get out of jail.
Should be perfectly legal, then, to destroy such a device when you find it on your car.
Or take it off and reattach it to someone else’s car! If the cops can, why can’t you? Maybe on their wife’s or kid’s car, eh? Or a city bus? UPS vehicle?
New opportunity: a scanner for determining whether the police have GPS-tagged you.
Observation: I bet they don’t get these devices from NSA. I bet they’re off the shelf. FOIA to find out who makes them so you can develop countermeasures.
Further observation: glad I don’t live in Wisconsin.
If I had a GPS tracker on my car, they would find my movements pretty boring; to work, back home, to work, back home, to the market, back home. Nonetheless, I woud rip it of if I found on my vehicle.
We can only hope that some individual or organization in Wisconsin will take aim and thrust this issue into a Federal Appeals Court and shepard the case all the way to the SCOTUS if necessary ... And sooner better than later for obvious reasons.
God Help us all if there is no courage to do so...
Well, since they can attach anything they want to somebody’’s vehicle, does it follow that the owner of the vehicle has a right to remove this little doohickey from his private property and throw it into the nearst trash can? What does the test of reasonableness say about this
Easily. Sure, driving down the street your position is public. Suppose I drive onto private property - a large ranch where I can't be publicly observed. I'm on private property, they have no right to obtain my position.
The device is some small amount of weight. That affects my gas mileage, shock absorber and tire wear... (ok, small but...) As an electrical device it represents some increased risk of igniting a fire in a collision... These guys are overstepping.
Shouldn’t the use of this device be considered stalking?
This sound like something the KGB would do. Do we live in the USSA?
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.