Posted on 10/21/2008 10:06:02 AM PDT by BGHater
A federal court case in Pittsburgh could reach the U.S. Supreme Court for a "groundbreaking" decision about whether police officers need probable cause and search warrants to use GPS technology when tracking suspects, a local expert in constitutional law said.
Across the country, detectives are using the sometimes-controversial technology to investigate cases. But Pennsylvania law doesn't clearly dictate rules, said University of Pittsburgh School of Law professor John Burkoff, author of the "Search Warrant Law Deskbook."
"The law isn't entirely clear," Burkoff said. "There are many areas open to challenge, and to be safe, the best bet would be for a police officer to get a search warrant using probable cause to protect themselves. We're still figuring out -- the courts are -- about how to handle GPS data."
In Pittsburgh, federal prosecutors appealed a decision prohibiting them from seeking cell phone tracking information without first establishing probable cause.
In February, five federal magistrate judges rebuffed a request from the U.S. Attorney's Office, saying it ran afoul of privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.
"This case and a few others like it around the country could end up being groundbreaking and deciding how police and the courts should handle using this technology," Burkoff said.
When a cell phone is turned on, it constantly relays location information to towers serving its network. The phone scans for the strongest signal about every seven seconds.
Federal prosecutors want to obtain that stored information through warrantless cell phone tracking -- sometimes through real-time surveillance or, as prosecutors in Pittsburgh requested, through historic data showing where a user was at any given time.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Wrap your phone with foil. Reception will be ruined, but GPS won't work either.
bump
Switch cars with a friend if you have something planned.
This is true of any GPS reciever - if it cannot "see" the sky (and satellites), it cannot know your location. As Neidermeyer ("Thank you sir, may I have another?") says, all you need to do is disconnect the GPS antenna or otherwise block it from viewing the sky. Take an ordinary hand-held GPS receiver indoors, away from a window. Or wrap it with aluminum foil. See how it works when the signal is blocked.
As for the GPS function in cell phones, I think you'd have to be a little more innovative. As others say, removing the battery in the phone will stop it from receiving information from the GPS satellites, and will prevent it from broadcasting that information. It will also prevent it from being a functional phone. I don't know where the GPS antenna is located in a typical cell phone, but if there's a way to block it, that would be good. Of course, it may share the same antenna that the phone uses to communicate, so blocking that antenna would render the phone useless.
Also note that even if GPS isn't available, the phone's position can be roughly located (very roughly, this isn't real accurate) through triangulation via the cell towers (again, removing the battery defeats this capability). If 3 towers can "see" your phone, the phone company can estimate your position without the help of GPS. It will be much less accurate, but will give a general idea, probably within 100-200 feet in a "tower-rich" environment.
Keys also enable people to open locks without force. Drive a different vehicle or take public transportation.
I have to go out alone to shop or get exercise. I live in a rural area, and switching cars is really not an option.
Yes, but how do the perps know what key formula to use? There are sophisticated lock-picking devices on the market which are available in disgusting places like “Spy Shops,” where you can also buy “useful” things like books on how to harass people, how to bug people’s homes, even how to poison people. Such publications are not what the Founding Fathers had in mind as protected free speech.
How can one remove the plastic bumper cover to do a thorough search for these things? I realize they are probably installed just by reaching up and slapping them on where they adhere by magnetism, but...
Theoretically, there are ways of detecting electronic devices planted in your environment, even when they are turned off, but I think it would be hard to make those methods work in a metal-rich environment like a car.
I don’t know, they must be very good professionals with sophisticated equipment.
Line your garage with copper screen, like they use in RF labs. That should keep the signal from getting out, and only park in metal parking spaces.
There are plenty of people with the required skills and equipment to do this creepy stuff. There were 800 members in the private detectives' assoc. in Balto. MD, and who knows how many non-members. One ex-cop refused to join the association because he was disgusted with their conduct. He said a convicted felon could get a detective's license in MD.
The real advantage to the metal spaces, is that you can drive in, being tracked, and drive out in a different vehicle which doesn’t have any tracking devices.
You might have to crawl under your car and look around rather than just trying to feel for a device. Then, if you do feel for it, at least you'll see visually that you're hitting every nook and cranny.
Have you ever watched the show Burn Notice on USA? It's completed two seasons now. It's about a spy who got burned and has to figure out who and why. Besides the entertainment, the real benefit is the extensive exposure to and explanations for so much creativity in his profession.
Also, what about counterintelligence? What have you done to find out who has been harrassing you for 29 years and how do you know that they actually are? If anyone can get a detective's license in MD, why not you? Also, consider the time spent on this. No one is going to spend 29 years following you themselves, and probably not one year either. They're going to get very bored, get caught up in routine, and get sloppy. That's a weakness to exploit. Also the number of people involved if they've been switching out over all those years. You would find at least one person to talk.
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