Covert GPS Tracking 'Okayed' by US Court Decision

Civil liberties groups have always been against the practice of law enforcement agencies

of putting GPS tracking devices on suspected vehicles without search warrants. However, they may be in for a major setback after a recent decision of the California Federal Court of Appeals upholding the use of GPS trackers by federal agents on a drug conviction case.

The defendant, Juan Pineda-Moreno, pleaded with the court to overturn the drug conviction, arguing that the GPS tracking device was placed on his Jeep without any search warrants. The court declined to hear the case as the agents placed these devices when the vehicle was on public property.

In the United States, the use of GPS tracking devices by the police and other government authorities is limited by the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution. What this simply means for you is that the police cannot just go out and place any type of hidden tracker on your vehicle or property without a warrant or without you knowing about it.

The government has always been adamant in its stand of installing GPS tracking devices on suspected vehicles even without a warrant. For one thing, these devices were indeed very helpful in tracking down the activities of suspected criminals and used this information against them for conviction even if they were not aware that they were being tracked.

Private investigators were also having a field day using these devices to track down suspicious activities by family members or spouses. The information obtained from these devices was used extensively in child custody cases or against spouses, saving their clients thousands or even millions in alimony pay. This recent move by the California Federal Court of Appeals is one point on their side.

However, this decision could have far-reaching implications for you as an ordinary citizen particularly with your civic rights. It simply means that anyone can put a hidden GPS tracker on your vehicle or property when you leave it outside your private property. It is an invasion of your privacy in a high tech sense.

Civil rights groups are appealing with the Federal Court in Washington to reject unwarranted use of GPS tracking devices by private parties and government authorities. Their stand is that law enforcement agencies can only track people after obtaining a search warrant from a judge.

So the message essentially is that this decision is a golden opportunity for people within the law enforcement community and private investigator field but not one that should concern the general public.

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Covert GPS Tracking 'Okayed' by US Court Decision

By: Rose Li

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