Feds: Privacy Does Not Exist in ‘Public Places’

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Wired:

The Obama administration has urged a federal appeals court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.

The Justice Department is demanding a federal appeals court rehear a case in which it reversed the conviction and life sentence of a cocaine dealer whose vehicle was tracked via GPS for a month, without a court warrant. The authorities then obtained warrants to search and find drugs in the locations where defendant Antoine Jones had travelled.

The administration, in urging the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse a three-judge panel’s August ruling from the same court, said Monday that Americans should expect no privacy while in public.

“The panel’s conclusion that Jones had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the public movements of his Jeep rested on the premise that an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the totality of his or her movements in public places, ” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Smith wrote the court in a petition for rehearing.

The case is an important test of privacy rights as GPS devices have become a common tool in crime fighting, and can be affixed to moving vehicles by an officer shooting a dart. Three other circuit courts have already said the authorities do not need a warrant for GPS vehicle tracking, Smith pointed out.

The circuit’s ruling means that, in the District of Columbia area, the authorities need a warrant to install a GPS-tracking device on a vehicle. But in much of the United States, including the West, a warrant is not required. Unless the circuit changes it mind, only the Supreme Court can mandate a uniform rule.

The government said the appellate panel’s August decision is “vague and unworkable” and undermines a law enforcement practice used “with great frequency.”
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The line between privacy and legitimate surveillance is becoming increasingly blurred. I'm all for tracking down the bad guys, but what about when the government starts doing it to the rest of us?

[Stella]

This is coming from the same people that thought The Patriot Act was the ultimate invasion of privacy.

[clearvision]

“The panel’s conclusion that Jones had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the public movements of his Jeep rested on the premise that an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the totality of his or her movements in public places, ” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Smith wrote the court in a petition for rehearing.

 

I'm not sure how they argued this one. If the cops had followed him in a car, or if he was trailed while walking, they could do that all day long and that would not need a warrant. They could do the same with air surveillance. So not sure one should have an expectation of privacy in "totality" of movement. So the issue seems to be planting a tracker on your vehicle. Am I right about no warrant needed to follow you around?

[Argyle58]

“The panel’s conclusion that Jones had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the public movements of his Jeep rested on the premise that an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the totality of his or her movements in public places, ” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Smith wrote the court in a petition for rehearing.

 

I'm not sure how they argued this one. If the cops had followed him in a car, or if he was trailed while walking, they could do that all day long and that would not need a warrant. They could do the same with air surveillance. So not sure one should have an expectation of privacy in "totality" of movement. So the issue seems to be planting a tracker on your vehicle. Am I right about no warrant needed to follow you around?

 

You are right, CV, no warrant is needed. Nor should one be in this case. The vehicle was parked in the driveway, in plain view when the tracking device was planted. Had the vehicle been parked in a garage at the point where law enforcement officials affixed the device, that would be a different matter.

 

I am amazed that the issue of privacy in public places comes up so often in a society where it is common to have (loud) private telephone conversations in the line at the grocery store. I am constantly having TMI moments about the intimate details of the lives of total strangers.