Warrantless GPS tracking unlawful, says supreme court
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that you do, in fact, need a warrant to track someone with GPS. The decision was reached after the the overturned case of a Washington, DC reached their ears. The case involved Antoine Jones, a night club owner there convicted for life on narcotics charges.
Prior to his arrest, police stuck a GPS tracking device on his car and tracked his every movement for a few weeks without his knowledge, much less consent. Unsurprisingly, the Federal Appeals court overturned his life imprisonment.
Every Supreme Court Judge agreed with the decision. Associate justice Antonin Scalia even said that the "officers encroached on a protected area" when they installed the GPS tracking device. Justice Samuel Alito wanted to go ahead and provide provisions for the GPS devices on our phones, too.
There has been some recent concern over the illegal monitoring of cell phones, with the government using a device nicknamed ’the Stingray’. And while at least one case has been overturned because of its use, the practice hasn’t yet made it to the Supreme Court level, so it can still be overruled or reinterpreted.
Without a doubt, illegal GPS tracking will continue to be used, much like wiretappings are frequently abused by the government. And all it would take is a friendly judge (or one who disagrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling) to issue a warrant. But at least we don’t have to worry about the practice of tracking cars without consent o a warrant becoming rampant.
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