When you get a chance, be sure to check underneath your car for a GPS tracker. It would be the size of a credit card, maybe even smaller. Hopefully the search yields no tracker, as the federal government is now using the technology to compile information against \u201csuspected criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n
This practice is at the center of a new case to reach the Supreme Court, United States v. Jones. In 2005, the FBI attached a GPS tracker to the car of Antoine Jones after suspecting he was involved in illegal drug distribution.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police Department had originally obtained a 10-day warrant for the tracking, but didn\u2019t install the device on Jones\u2019 vehicle until the 11th day. The device then recorded his location every 10 seconds, for a period of 28 days, obtaining over 3,000 pages of data.<\/p>\n
In 2008, with information obtained from the tracker as evidence, Jones was sentenced to life in prison for one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and 50 or more grams of cocaine base.<\/p>\n
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. recently overturned his conviction on fourth amendment grounds, prompting the government to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
During oral arguments, Deputy Solicitor Gen. Michael Dreeben shed light on the alarming view the government holds in regards to GPS tracking: \u201cThis case does not involve 24-hour surveillance of every citizen of the United States. It involves following one suspected drug dealer as to whom there was very strong suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government is looking to receive judicial confirmation that bypassing the fourth amendment is acceptable under their twisted logic. In the 1983 case United States v. Knotts, the court ruled it is legal for police to tail a vehicle and track it with a beeper without a warrant. This is the case prosecutors are using to support their use of remote 24\/7 tracking of suspects through GPS.<\/p>\n
One glaring difference between beepers and GPS is manpower. Mass-produced tracking devices can be placed on an unlimited number of cars for constant surveillance, but a police department can only use so many officers to track a vehicle in real time.<\/p>\n
Under the government\u2019s case, a warrant should not be required if there is the \u201cstrong suspicion\u201d they saw in Jones\u2019 case. If the court rules in favor of the government, inevitable abuse would follow. Power hungry prosecutors who share different viewpoints on what qualifies as \u201csuspicion\u201d would be in control. This is more than just dangerous, it\u2019s terrifying.<\/p>\n
If the court rules warrantless tracking is legal, what kind of recourse would the public have to stop perceived abuse by law enforcement? \u201cThe legislature is a safeguard,\u201d Dreeben told Justice Antonin Scalia during arguments.<\/p>\n
The same Congress that passed the Patriot Act, legislation that was later found to have at least two unconstitutional provisions involving search warrants issued without probable cause. A world in which the least favorable branch of government is in charge of ensuring the privacy of the masses — talk about a nightmare.<\/p>\n
Even the justices expressed unease about the scope of power the government was seeking. Justice Stephen Breyer stated during the proceedings, \u201cThe difference between the monitoring and what happened in the past is memories are fallible, computers aren’t. And no one, at least very rarely, sends human beings to follow people 24 hours a day. That occasionally happens. But with the machines, you can. So if you win, you suddenly produce what sounds like 1984.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breyer isn\u2019t overreacting — the line between what is private and what is public is becoming blurred and this case gives the court a chance to set the record straight. A ruling is expected in Jones\u2019 case sometime in the spring, and the door should be slammed on big brother once and for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you get a chance, be sure to check underneath your car for a GPS tracker. It would be the size of a credit card, maybe even smaller. Hopefully the search yields no tracker, as the federal government is now using the technology to compile information against \u201csuspected criminals.\u201d This Continue reading Supreme Court case brings \u2018Big Brother\u2019 to life<\/span>