Posted on 05/10/2009 7:57:22 AM PDT by mtrott
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 ...
The Denver boot precedent requires that the person reasonably would know who placed the device there. If the GPS recorder is concealed and unmarked, it would not apply.
I love the one on the TV show where they are on the bottom of the vehicle and have a pulsing LED. Can’t get any more obvious than that.
The hard part is finding the receiver. It would be easy enough to detect a constant broadcast but a passive recorder would be much harder. Not saying it couldn’t but its beyond most of us. Local GPS jamming would be easier but that would get you a whole lot of unwanted attention.
Google “RFID”. These tags that can/are being used for “inventory purposes” on nearly ANY iten (clothes included) could be used to monitor us. The “REAL ID” Act really opened the flood gates for this crap. Cars have “black boxes” in them. Your cell phone is a homing beacon.Buying into the hype, I see ...
All these are easily 'counter-measured'.
Why would you ever want to throw away such a valuable device?
As soon as you find it, take a picgture of it and then take it off your car and put it in your garage, house, wherever.
Put it back on when you are going someplace innocuous, take it off whenever you are going someplace you don't want to be tracked.
If push ever comes to shove, say nothing until you have gone through all phases of discovery, especially if police does not produce records from the device. The pull out your picture and ask pointed questions about the records from the device and what they show. Impeach police testimony with records from the device.
P.S. Do not use a credit card to buy gas. If gas bought does not correlate with miles the device shows, this is bad.
The car is not private property nor is your driveway private property. IOW's there is no private property. Don't believe me, ask Mrs Kelo.
The UK is trying an experimental program wherein cars are affixed with receivers and software that will automatically slow their cars down to the speed limit broadcast by networks of transmitters set alongside roads...no matter how fast you were going when your car receives info that you’re in a 20/k road your engine will slow to 20/, no matter how hard you push the gas pedal.
Ed
The problem, as I see it is why do ‘counter-measures’ need to be taken? Why should people have to microwave their property in order not to potentially be tracked? The movie ‘Enemy of the State’ came out in 1998 - it was prophetic with it's presentation of how surveillance can be misused.
You asked — Will they be able to attach something to my clothing next?
—
Already in the works or being done now. RFID chips are doing it and can end up tracking one particular person by their clothing, all that they wear.
Remember, too, that the "right" to have an abortion resulted from "penumbras and emanations" of the Constitution concerning the right to privacy. IOW, the right to an abortion is based on a made up right of privacy. Violating that very right with a GPS would seem to be unconstitutional, but, hey I'm no Constitutional law professor like our esteemed President.
“So, if the police are free to attach a GPS device to my car without my permission and without a warrant, am I free to remove it from my property and throw it down a storm drain?”
Or attach it to an inanimate object that will move randomly.
“Google “RFID”. These tags that can/are being used for “inventory purposes” on nearly ANY iten (clothes included) could be used to monitor us.”
You can take the RFID tag off after you buy the product. A few seconds in the microwave oven might fix any tracking problems as well.
“The “REAL ID” Act really opened the flood gates for this crap. Cars have “black boxes” in them. Your cell phone is a homing beacon.”
You can turn off your cell phone if you don’t want to be tracked. You can also turn off or not use your EZPass and pay cash if you don’t want to be tracked.
“It’s obvious what a boot is and where it came from. If the device has no identification on it, then you don’t know whose it is and you have the right to treat it as trash.”
Even if you do know whose it is, and they have knowingly and willfully attached it to or left it on your property, you are probably free to treat it as trash.
Does anybody have any knowledge of (A) where and how police would attach a GPS device and (B) can it be easily located visually?
That’s right. Years ago a mafia type found out his phone was tapped without a warrant and he dismantled the device and trashed it. Prosecutors tried to charge him with destroying property. Court said no way.
Good point. I also wonder if this means that you can physically apprehend the man putting on the device as you would anybody else that suspiciously messes around with your car.
Don't just ditch it, deliver bad data.
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.