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Cheese Danish Shipping, Warrantless GPS Trackers, and a Border Doctrine Challenge :
At the end of August, a federal judge in Riverside, California made a potentially landmark decision for border privacy advocates—finding that it is unconstitutional for federal agents to warrantlessly install GPS tracking devices onto a truck entering the United States from Canada.
In the grand scheme, the decision stands in the face of a controversial but standing legal idea called "the border doctrine." The doctrine's concept is that warrants are not required to conduct a search at the border in the name of national sovereignty.
And in this particular incident—a case called United States v. Slavco Ignjatov et al. that allegedly involves Starbucks cheese danishes and a trafficking organization that sounds straight out of Breaking Bad[0]—the ruling could be a major victory for defendants as it would suppress any evidence obtained through the use of the warrantless GPS tracker.
The story is a bit on the longish side, but well worth the read. What I find amazing is that those involved could likely have gotten a warrant in advance with what they knew, and surely could have received one in the 24 hours after they affixed the GPS tracker... but they didn't even bother to try and get one.
On the other hand, given that roughly two-thirds of the US' population is treated as being within 100 miles of the border, I'm heartened to see any kind of pushback.
[0by which they mean its spin-off series, Better Call Saul —ed]
(Score: 1) by ShadowSystems on Monday September 03 2018, @08:29AM (4 children)
Peel the tracker off my car, pull into the parking lot of a truckstop, attach the tracker to the first Harley I find, & then make my purchases inside as normal.
Let the folks monitoring the tracker wonder WTF when "my car" starts veering in & out of stopped traffic, goes off road through places impossible for my car to even fit much less navigate through (like going through the pedestrian turnstyle at a chokepoint that my car couldn't fit through).
Let them go after the Harley rider & try explaining to the disgruntled biker why they're being harrassed by The Man.
Meanwhile I'll go on about my business without the tracker to send my telemetry to everyone in radio range.
Another fun one is to find a stray dog, give it a coller with the GPS tracker attached, & let the monitors try to catch the pooch.
"Ok WTF? The system just claimed the target has gone inside a building, up a flight of stairs, & is inside an apartment. How the HELL is that possible given that tracker is supposed to be attached to a Dodge Durango?!???"
=-D
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 03 2018, @08:50AM
If you live near an airport, that might be fun too. Of course, it's not real easy getting close to a plane you don't own.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 03 2018, @09:09AM (2 children)
The feds may turn to your door and ask the device back [techdirt.com] as being their property.
However, there's no law stopping a private investigator to track you and/or your wife using GPS trackers [ajc.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday September 03 2018, @04:27PM (1 child)
#1 While a bit scary and I generally sympathize with those that are erroneously targeted. It's one of those we signed away our rights with the Patriot Act kind of things.
#2 Is creepy and there needs to be laws regulating the use of GPS tracking. Now, if it really was some licensed PI that was tracking them for some particular reason. Not sure that it'll go anywhere. There certainly should be some protections for the expected privacy of US Citizens, though. Having a PI follow you is one thing, having them trespassing by attaching something to your car is another.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 03 2018, @07:37PM
I don't know how modifying someone else's property without their consent could possibly be legal, private investigator or not. That's just insane.