Last month’s Supreme Court ruling that long-term surveillance using implanted GPS devices requires a warrant has had a massive impact on FBI policy, according to the bureau’s General Council Andrew Weissmann. Weissmann says that the FBI shut down some 3,000 such tracking plots in the wake of the ruling.
The Supreme Court ruling was criticized by some on the Court, who argued it didn’t go far enough in restricting surveillance without warrant. It ruled that installation of a device for long-term surveillance was only legal with a warrant, but did not rule on surveillance with existing GPS devices like cell phones.
The Obama Administration had argued that the government had an absolute power to install devices anywhere it wanted to and track them without any oversight. The FBI revelation suggests this was in far broader use than anyone expected.
Weissmann went on to say that the FBI had serious problems recovering the 3,000 illegally installed trackers, and had been pressing the court to allow them to turn them back on briefly so they could find and recover them. He added that the FBI is trying to anticipate further court rulings based on the Supreme Court justices’ apparent belief that individuals have an expectation not to have their movements tracked “even if those movements are in public.”
It's really tough having to play within the rules…like the rest of us little people.
Maybe they should offer one of their swell InfraGard Secret Decoder Rings to each person who returns their tracking device.
Of course the FBI is panicking, if the owner of the vehicle finds the device, they have proof positive of the FBI illegally tracking them and probably enough evidence for a law suit, especially if there was not enough probable cause for such surveillance . It also gives them PROOF positive and legal standing to bring an action against the Government.
Oh, I seriously doubt that. The FBI will continue spying, evesdropping, entrapping. They can't stop what they are and we're way past the point where Constitutional rights, the courts and all that meant something. In fact, DemocracyNow! had a newsbit today revealing that the NSA is already pushing the NDAA to good work to monitor people's e-mails. As if they weren't doing that already. Ha!
If any other country- let's say…… Iran, for example- had this sort of surveillance program in place the US government would be ALL OVER IT in the news. It's okay as long as we do it to our own people, but when other nations monitor their public in the same manner it's proof positive of totalitarianism.
One thing I'd be interested in- of all those car-borne GPS trackers out there, how many of them are still attached to cars that have been sold to someone else NOT on the surveillance list?