Appeals court limits police use of warrentless long-term GPS device to track suspects

[Elmore Furth]

Well, maybe they will finally admit that warrentless wiretaps were a gross violation of the 4th amendment.

A federal appeals court has ruled for the first time that police in the United States cannot use an automated tracking device to monitor a person's vehicle for an extended time without a warrant, breaking new ground in an untested realm of surveillance technology and privacy.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that contrary to previous rulings by federal circuit courts in New York and California, the FBI and District police overstepped in placing a Global Positioning System monitoring device on a drug suspect's car and tracking its movements around-the-clock for four weeks.

In striking down a conviction and life prison sentence for Antoine Jones, former co-owner of a District nightclub called Levels, judges said the use of technology to conduct surveillance at a level never before practical in person marked a leap forward in potential government intrusion that violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

"A single trip to a gynecologist's office tells little about a woman, but that trip followed a few weeks later by a visit to a baby supply store tells a different story," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, speaking for a unanimous and ideologically diverse panel that included Judges David S. Tatel and Thomas F. Griffith.

Appeals court limits police use of GPS device to track suspects

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. word to the wise: change cars, often.

[elleng]

2. Excellent, and an important court.

[Dawson Leery]

3. k/r

[katandmoon]

4. Great news. Now watch the cops just flagrantly ignore the ruling.