Monday, January 23, 2012

No More GPS Tracking

The US Supreme Court ruled that the police need to acquire a warrant before they can use GPS to track your activities. Here is a brief background of the case:

"A GPS device installed by police on Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antoine Jones' Jeep and tracked for four weeks helped link him to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before an appeals court overturned his conviction."

Remember, that your right to privacy is not protected when you drive around in public. Anyone can follow anyone else on public roads. Why can't the police simply be able to attach a GPS device on your vehicle to make it easier to follow you?

Members of the SUpreme COurt thought otherwise: "Justice Antonin Scalia said the government's installation of the device, and its use of the GPS to monitor the vehicle's movements, constituted a search, meaning a warrant was required. "Officers encroached on a protected area," Scalia wrote.

Relying on a centuries-old legal principle, he concluded that the police action without a warrant was a trespass and therefore an illegal search."

Do you welcome this ruling by the Supreme Court? Was this an issue of privacy or does this ruling handcuff police (no pun intended) from doing their jobs?






7 comments:

  1. hello MR.Bauer my opinion of this matter is that in any matter of this type, the police officers should have a warrant if they are going to be trespassing. Public road seems a bit more logical to me but at the same time it a bit over the top. The law protects us from these type of measures that cops take,..Cops should in fact be punished for doing so. Warrants are necessary and the law should be obeyed,..Although the times the law does figure out drug related crimes it is and is not okay for it,..Just as the law can hear phone conversations and can check the world wide web,..There at times should be a law in protecting us from the Gov't,..etc.
    -Janett Gomez

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  2. Hey Mr. Bauer, in my opinion, cops should get a warrant in order to follow someone and see what he or she is doing. Because what if the police puts a gps at the wrong car and is following someone innocent, then the heat will go to the police department and on how they could mistake someones car. Therefore, cops should get a warrant and correctly track the person with no problems. --Arturo Vargas P.5

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  3. Bauer, you always have the greatest topics!
    Any who, well the police has gone a bit far with the GPS tracking. It can be for safety issues at times but it should not go to this extent. I believe that if the police is suspicious of something they should definitely have a warrant in order to do things like track you that way and people should cooperate to make things easier because in the end if you have nothing to hide there's no reason to mind.

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    1. Hey Bauer its Olivia French=)
      i think that unless you literally have a criminal record and serious allegations against you, the police shouldn't be able to just strap a gps system to your car to watch your every move. it is an offense against a person's constitutional rights, and their own privacy. a warrant should be acquired even if suspected of heinous crimes in a vehicle, because people would throw a fit about that anyways.
      well, thats all i have to say=0
      Olivia

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  4. Alex Abbott
    p.2

    This topic reminded me of an episode of bones where one of the killers said that it would of been easier to arrest him if there weren't so many specific laws that hinder arrests.

    I agree with anyone who says that the police need a warrant. that is completely logical. Everyone has their right to privacy. That is why the GPS tracking thing is, in my opinion, over the top. We are the land of the free, not the land of the tracked! i agree with the supreme courts decision in this matter.

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  5. Things should be organized because there is always going to be a smartass who will take advantage of an officer's mistake to get away with a crime. If the officers play by the rules and get a warrant 1: they won't be wasting they're time (hopefully) chasing the wrong person & 2: once they get the guy, they won't run the risk of not being able to convict & letting a pist off criminal run around feeling accomplished.

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  6. Jose Jimenez Per.2March 9, 2012 at 8:51 PM

    I dont like the idea of the cops tracking people with gps'. I think that if they do this it will only lead to them wanting to keep more tabs on us and say it isfor the saftey of others. I think a warrent is necessary if they want to search your property.

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