Justice Department Pushes Warrantless GPS Surveillance | PCWorld

Analysis: A Supreme Court case is considering whether cops need a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a suspect's vehicle to covertly track its movement.

By Darlene Storm, Computerworld Apr 25, 2011 12:36 pm

In a court of law, the word "reasonable" is all important, what a reasonable person would do, or feel, or expect, or how a reasonable person would react to a situation. If it's not reasonable, then expect to lose. Is it reasonable to expect law enforcement, with no warrant, to shoot a GPS tracking dart at your vehicle to better monitor your movements?

The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to resolve a conflict among federal appellate courts over the need for a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a suspect's vehicle to covertly track a person. In fact, the Justice Department said that a person traveling on public roads has "no reasonable expectation of privacy" in his movements, even if 'scientific enhancements' are used to help law enforcement with the tracking.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the conviction of a drug dealer, Antoine Jones, since the government had violated Jones' privacy by covertly tracking his movements by GPS, and then using that data for search warrants of those locations to find drugs. The Justice Department said that the government surveillance by GPS in the Jones' case "raises no concerns about mass, suspicionless GPS monitoring."

Also in the 121-page DOJ petition (PDF), one of the arguments the Justice Department used was cost, as in the cost to install a GPS device being insignificant because "the Los Angeles Police Department can now affix a GPS device to a passing car simply by launching a GPS-enabled dart." The sources of this information included this statement, "The darts consist of a miniaturized GPS receiver, radio transmitter, and battery embedded in a sticky compound material. When fired at a vehicle, the compound adheres to the target, and thereafter permits remote real- time tracking of the target from police headquarters."

Let's hold it right there, on those two different thoughts of raising no concerns about suspicionless GPS tracking and the ability for authorities to "just tag the suspect vehicle, then fall back and wait." In 2006, the LAPD got excited about GPS-enabled darts by StarChase. In a 2010 article, StarChase claimed that law enforcement using their product could target the adjustable laser dot from the aimer, launch the dart to the suspect vehicle, and immediately get GPS data. Furthermore, quoting the Arizona Highway Patrol, "The crooks haven't been aware they've been tagged. Even if they do discover it, it takes some real effort to remove the projectile."

If people can be tagged with a GPS-enabled dart in about a blink, and have no idea their movements on public streets are being tracked, then it seems reasonable that the warrantless surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment. In fact, it sounds a bit like stalking; if permitted to be done without a warrant, then it could easily be done on a large scale and without true suspicion.