A victory for privacy!
August 6, 2010 at 6:06 pm by Amy E. FerrerToday, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a ruling that standsstrongly on the side of privacy and against government intrusion. Fromthe Electronic Frontier Foundation:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today firmly rejected government claims that federal agentshave an unfettered right to install Global Positioning System (GPS)location-tracking devices on anyone’s car without a search warrant. …
“The court correctly recognized the important differences between limited surveillance of public activities possible through visualsurveillance or traditional ‘bumper beepers,’ and the sort of extended,invasive, pervasive, always-on tracking that GPS devices allow,” saidEFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. “This same logic appliesin cases of cell phone tracking, and we hope that this decision will befollowed by courts that are currently grappling with the question ofwhether the government must obtain a warrant before using your cellphone as a tracking device.”
“GPS tracking enables the police to know when you visit your doctor, your lawyer, your church, or your lover,” said Arthur Spitzer, LegalDirector of the ACLU-NCA. “And if many people are tracked, GPS datawill show when and where they cross paths. Judicial supervision of thispowerful technology is essential if we are to preserve individualliberty. Today’s decision helps brings the Fourth Amendment into the21st Century.”
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