SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 03 2018, @08:48AM
How about 99% or even more? Depending on just who is reading and interpreting the law, if you live within 100 miles of an airport, then you are subject to warrantless searches. There is an airstrip EVERYWHERE!! All of the larger, and less populous states have airstrips - and if you don't actually have an airstrip, there is a body of water on which a plane can land with pontoons.
Unless you have a HUGE obstruction which prevents aircraft landing anywhere near you (like, what could hat possibly be, with helicopters available?) you're screwed if the feds come knocking.
My mistake - they don't knock unless they are in a really good mood, or they are hoping that you answer the door with a weapon in hand.
And, every bit of that attitude is unconstitutional. The founding fathers had no intention of having a police state which can search it's citizens at any time, and at any place. Twelve miles from the coast and/or an international border satisfies the intent of the founders - which still takes in a large segment of the US population. (Don't forget the Great Lakes and/or the Canadian border, people.)
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.