http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/06/27/is-warrantless-gps-tracking-constitutional/

June 27, 2011

Is Warrantless GPS Tracking Constitutional?

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

Can the government put a GPS tracking device on your car without a warrant? The Supreme Court is going to decide.

The court agreed Monday to hear the case of Antoine Jones, whose truck was tracked by police for a month [1] before they got warrants to search for drugs in places he had visited.

A lower court overturned his conviction last year, ruling that the extended use of the GPS device without a warrant violated the Fourth Amendment.

The Obama administration appealed the ruling in the Jones case and argued that a person traveling on public streets has no reasonable expectation of privacy. Other lower courts have allowed such warrantless tracking as well.

In the 1980s, the Supreme Court said a device could be used to track a car for a single trip, but the question in the latest case is whether 24-7 monitoring for extended periods of time is different.

In overturning Jones's conviction, the federal appeals court basically said that you can reasonably expect not to be tracked at all times. More on that decision is available on Wired's Threat Level blog, [2] which has been following the case.

When the court agreed today to hear the case, it expanded the question beyond the issue of timing, asking for briefs on whether even installing the GPS device without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment.

The issue is an important one in part because technological tracking has become so easy. Wired reports that police officers can even affix trackers to moving vehicles, [3] and devices have been found by unsuspecting targets, [4] such as a California student.

"The Court's decision in Jones could have a significant impact on everyone's privacy because most of us are carrying a tracking device everyday: our cell phone," said the ACLU, [5] which has filed briefs in the case.

[1] http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062711zor.pdf

[2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/08/gps-tracking-unconstitutional/

[3] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/warrantless-gps-monitoring-scotus/

[4] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/

[5] http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-national-security/warrantless-gps-tracking-case-heads-supreme-court