Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Back in 2012, the US Supreme Court ruled that it's illegal for the police to attach a GPS tracking device to someone's car without a warrant. But what if you find a GPS tracking device on your car? Can you remove it?
A little more than a year ago, the state of Indiana charged a suspected drug dealer with theft for removing a government-owned GPS tracking device from his SUV. This month, the state's Supreme Court began considering the case, and some justices seemed skeptical of the government's argument.
"I'm really struggling with how is that theft," said Justice Steven David during recent oral arguments.
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Cops Put GPS Tracker on Man's Car, Charge Him With Theft for Removing It
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:10AM (2 children)
By reading this comment, you the reader (yes, you) are now a domestic terrorist on every watch list.
Have fun flying, applying for a loan, or walking on a public street. Your life is now ruined.
Yes, you.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:40AM (1 child)
Its okay, I read as AC! :-D
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:41AM
You bastard! Now I'm implicated too!
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:33AM (18 children)
Wouldn't that be some kind of entrapment? Put obvious device on suspect, if they do something about it they are a criminal? What would be the proper respons if you found a tracking device? Call the police (or other such org) and ask them to come over and remove it?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:46AM (1 child)
They're probably closing in on you already. I'd recommend removing the tracker, attaching it to a tasty treat of some sort, then leaving the region. Here's a helpful instructional video [youtube.com], courtesy of a previous California governor.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:54AM
Sounds like he's in league with Elon!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:46AM (2 children)
What would you do if you found an object that is not illegal for you to posses in one of your pockets and you are paranoid about it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:50AM (1 child)
Donate compromised item of clothing to homeless shelter.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 21 2019, @03:18AM
Hope you wiped that object clean of your fingerprints/DNA before and the donation was a drop in a bin rather than in person.
Translating the tactic to your car with a tracking device attached would mean quite an act of charity (except if it's actually a lemon).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:47AM (1 child)
Sell your car and let the next sucker take the heat.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Thursday November 21 2019, @08:55PM
I hear Steve Jobs got a new car every six months. Ostensibly, it was for other reasons related to permanent license plates, but this would also fit into his use case.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:09AM
Call the Bomb Squad and the local news.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:09AM
No, even simpler: be a good citizen and return the device to them yourself. Stick it under a police car and let them follow themselves.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RS3 on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:23AM (4 children)
It smells of entrapment, but that said, I know someone who was entrapped a year ago and things did not go well for the poor lad. I feel like I'm overstating the obvious, but it seems the cops have no rules.
One of my questions, and maybe I missed it in the article: does the device have identifying information on it?
If I found a random unmarked thing up under my vehicle, I'd likely take it apart, or see if it can be microwaved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @05:41AM (3 children)
If the device had any visible identification the judges wouldn't be taking his claim seriously that he didn't know what it was or where it came from.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:03AM
Of course.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Bot on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:59AM (1 child)
so all I have to do to stalk someone is to put a sticker 'police thingy do not remove' next to a gps... interesting...
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:27PM
In the United Police States of America.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:18AM (3 children)
No, it's not entrapment. Entrapment requires that the action be illegal. Removing unknown property from your property and doing anything with it is perfectly legal. You can throw it away, beat your nipples with it, exchange it for a gold idol on a platform, and as the Internet informs me is possible with anything, shove it up your butt.
In fact, the police implicitly provided permission by placing it upon the accused's property in the first place. Unilateral contracts that lack informed consent, or even knowledge, are bullshit on their face. If I deliberately placed a cantaloupe on your front seat, you are obviously not guilty of theft for removing it.
I'm sure there is some sort of legal mumbo jumbo for it, but it sounds like the police abandoned their property underneath a citizen's vehicle.
If we make it illegal for an alleged suspect to defend themselves against surveillance apparatus, especially when it's not readily identifiable as a sanctioned government activity, then it's trivially easy to imprison anyone.
This is ridiculous that those involved need to be removed from government. It's very clearly abuse, and it's not excusable just because it's an alleged drug dealer.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @07:36AM (1 child)
My physician brother noted that he learned during an emergency room rotation while in med school, that not only is it possible, but that such activity with a wide variety of objects, happens on a pretty regular basis.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:21PM
According to a friend of mine about his time in the ER, only one person out of the entire lot of people who came in like that (of at least one a day) admitted to putting it up his own rectum. Most everyone else claimed to be doing some activity naked and then falling on the object. Hundreds of people, only one fessed up.
Although, there is a funny story he told me. He was at the entry desk with the triage nurse when a gentlemen walked in with another person assisting them and a noticeable limp. The nurse asks what he needs and he says something along the lines of "I was at home doing some work on my garage and I somehow fell and a piece of rebar went in my ass and I'm afraid to pull it out on my own." The nurse sighs, goes to hand him the stock form and says they can probably see him in 30 minutes when the other guy asks, "I don't want to be a bother, but since it is going to be so long could one of you hold on to the rebar so I can wash my hands and maybe get a pair of gloves." My friend agrees, grabs some gloves, and walks around and sees the friend's hand isn't holding anything near the guy's rectum. No, there is a piece of rebar sticking out of the lower-middle of the cheek and coming out somewhere in the thigh gushing blood. He tells the nurse to admit him right away, she stands up to take a look at herself looks the guy dead in the eye and says, "you really need to describe that differently next time because I was picturing something else." The friend with him says, "What is that supp... (nurse does a pointing up gesture) Man! Noah needs to build another boat."
(Score: 3, Informative) by Osamabobama on Thursday November 21 2019, @09:00PM
That platform is Craigslist.com, although you may have better results (with more steps) on ebay.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:58AM (13 children)
Bonus points for "turning it in" by attaching it to the mayors car. -
Or just selling the vehicle. Or leasing it to someone to use as an Uber driver. Or shipping it cross country. I or parking it in a metal shipping container. Or driving over potholes and it accidentally gets dislodged, or damaged almost as if someone took a hammer to it. Or lending it to a charity so they can do pickups and deliveries once in a while. Or just drive to a pharmaceutical warehouse on a regular basis and just sit in the parking lot doing nothing for half an hour. Or park in front of the the Russian/Chinese embassy for 5 minutes on an irregular basis. Or visit the CIAs Langley offices once a month so they wonder what sort of black ops they've stumbled upon.
The plot sickens / thickens.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Chocolate on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:37AM (9 children)
I don't get it. If they attached something, permanently, to my property then are they not giving said property to me?
How is this different from someone hanging an ornament on the front of my house? Who owns the ornament? Can the person who put it there actually sue over its removal or destruction?
In which case, what is stopping people from walking up to a church and hanging a cross upside down? :)
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:55AM (5 children)
Isn't abandoning stuff on someone else's property known as littering?
If I took anything and affixed it to my neighbors car, and my neighbor discovered it and removed it, how is it he wronged me?
If I found such a thing, it would definitely rattle me, as it's solid evidence I am squarely in someone's gun sight... Not knowing who it is makes it likely I prepare for war with the wrong person.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Thursday November 21 2019, @04:43AM
Is the answer then to sue the owner of the device for littering? :)
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:22AM (2 children)
Isn't there a Supreme Court decision regarding who owns the trash you put on the side of the street? I believe they decided that you gave away all rights to the property when you did it.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:01PM
I believe it counts as abandoned property, yes.
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:10AM
A person who lived in a complex where I used to reside would park their car in my space. They saw my marked space empty a lot of the time so parked there. The letter I left on their windshield basically said 'Please move your car. Leaving private property on someone else's land may result in the property being sold to recover costs involved with disposal'.
The person went into an absolute rage. Banging on doors, shouting, threats. The police will not do anything until a complaint is made and damage is done. In the end he did move his car, and stopped parking there.
The law does say property left on private property can be disposed of if not claimed. A reasonable effort and time, based on the value of the property, determines when it can be destroyed or sold. Which is why my notice stated the car was worth $100. Minimal notice needed, and it's the price paid by local junkyards for old vehicles to be trashed.
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:46PM
Nahhhh - a good war is worth it, even if you get the "wrong person". Ask Boeing, and Raytheon, or any of the Military Industrial Complex.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @05:48AM (2 children)
I believe they are magnetic to make it easier for the officer to attach them easily. I remember a case a while back where an officer went into someone's yard to attach one of these trackers to a car without a warrant. IIRC, that case is why they need a warrant to use these trackers instead of just attaching them to cars at will.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:24PM (1 child)
Drive a Corvette. Magnetic doesn't work too well on fiberglass/aluminum.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday November 21 2019, @09:15PM
So GM ran all of those commercials about how ford's aluminum vehicles were garbage and then removed the steel frame from the corvette? At least on the ford trucks they doubled the size of their steel frames when they switched to aluminum body panels.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:40PM (2 children)
Why go to the bother, and expense? Just visit a truckstop, and attach the device to a trailer. Not a tractor, but the trailer. Preferably one of those large fleets that are well known for obstructing the highway with their slow-assed trucks. Swift, JB Hunt, CR England - the list goes on.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday November 21 2019, @08:27PM (1 child)
If not by ship, plan, or train,
then by truck.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @09:16PM
If I can't take a boat, why would I want to plan and train so that I can go by truck?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Thursday November 21 2019, @07:27AM
Well it's good they had a warrant, but the defendant was not informed of the warrant.
Secret warrants are a bad thing, and this is only one reason why.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:53AM (6 children)
First this [scmp.com] and now we hear about some other poor bastard being railroaded.
Pretty soon, it'll be hard to get spun and party [tweaker.org] like it's 1956 [soylentnews.org].
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 21 2019, @02:42PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxhugRKZ8g [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 21 2019, @03:17PM
At least the government is now on Meth. ("Meth: we're on it")
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Thursday November 21 2019, @07:10PM (3 children)
It's gotten so you've got to buy cheap, easily accessible meth in order to cook it into heavily restricted pseudo-ephedrine to treat auto-immune issues that lead to severe allergic responses.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Thursday November 21 2019, @09:13PM (2 children)
That sounds like a drug rehabilitation program.
But seriously, is that even feasible? Can I get a recipe to repair meth (without ending up on a list)?
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @05:00PM
no
he was joking about the 2-liter bottle method of preparation that resulted in anyone with allergies and wanting an OTC medication that actually worked... and that people with serious allergies are reverse engineering the product to get the component parts they need to lead a productive life, as opposed to the other way around.
most people doing the 2 liter bottle method just shop lift the stuff and don't get on any such lists anyway. People actually suffering get to suffer a little more because of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @05:46PM
Too late.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @03:09PM
The movement of device from place to place was done without the mans consent. It is therefore "involuntary servitude", and a violation of the 13th amendment.
Though SCOTUS is not real big on the 13th, and to be frank most federal courts would probably repeal without a second goose-step.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday November 21 2019, @03:16PM (1 child)
I would put it in a plastic box.
I would wrap it completely with the same brand of aluminum foil I use for making headwear.
Safely store it somewhere unlikely to be found.
After an amount of time to ensure it has no power remaining, retrieve it, take it apart, study it. Use for spare parts. Conduct intensive research to determine what voltage and current gets it to glow the most brightly.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:03PM
The obvious answer, is the more the brighter.