GPS Tracking: Turning Science Fiction Into Reality: Via Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union.

As a fan of the The Wire, I can find lots of plot twists and exciting scenes that illustrate the basic constitutional balance between the rights of individuals and the power of law enforcement. The Wire portrays police who follow the rules and those who don't as they wiretap, search, photograph and otherwise conduct their investigations into complex criminal cases.

In one episode, Detective Leander Snydor has followed a drug dealer to a house which might link him to other criminal relationships. Snydor skillfully walks past the dealer's car, fixes a GPS tracking system to the underside of the vehicle, and walks away with a whistle.

That might seem like smart cop work when aimed at an enormous, fictional drug ring in the mean streets of Baltimore. But GPS is no longer HBO fiction. In Madison, Wisconsin, where law enforcement agents used GPS to track someone suspected of violating a restraining order without first getting a warrant, it's very, very real. Unfortunately, according to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, we should let go of the expectation that police need permission to track our movements. [ Read more ... ]

EFF to Wisconsin: Just Say No to Warrantless GPS Tracking: Via EFF.org Updates.

ACLU National, ACLU of Wisconsin, and EFF have filed an amicus brief in the Wisconsin Supreme Court arguing that the law of that state prohibits police from installing a GPS device on you or your car without first getting a warrant from a judge. A growing number of state high courts have decided that their citizens should be protected from suspicionless GPS tracking, recognizing that uninterrupted around-the-clock surveillance is qualitatively different from ordinary police observations of a suspect. In the Wisconsin case, People v. Sveum, we ask the court to follow the example of Washington, New York, and Massachusetts and find that GPS tracking is a search that requires a warrant. EFF participated as amicus in the New York case, People v. Weaver, and is awaiting a decision under the federal Constitution in U.S. v. Jones, a GPS tracking case pending in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. [ Read more ... ]

Bank Thieves Foiled by GPS-Spiked Cash: Via Threat Level.

Forget exploding dye packs. Three thieves who made off with about $9,000 in cash from a bank were thwarted by a GPS device inserted in the cash that led authorities straight to their door, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Timothy Rucker, 33, Phillip Griffen, 31, and Brandon Barnes, 25, entered a branch of the TCF Bank on Dec. 30 with their faces concealed and pointed a gun at a teller, demanding cash.

The three made off with a nylon bag full of money. But unknown to them, the bag also contained two GPS-tracking devices hidden among the bills.

Signals from the devices led police to the home of one of the suspect’s parents, where the thieves were arrested about an hour after the robbery. [ Read more ... ]

GPS and Privacy Rights: Via Editorial - NYTimes.com .

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., heard arguments last week about whether police should have to get a warrant before putting a GPS device on a suspect’s car. It is a cutting-edge civil liberties question that has divided the courts that have considered it. GPS devices give the government extraordinary power to monitor people’s movements. The Washington court should rule that a warrant is required.

Antoine Jones was charged with being part of an interstate drug conspiracy. The government obtained evidence against Mr. Jones by putting a GPS device on his Jeep. It obtained a court order to install the GPS device, but the defense said the order was faulty, and tried to get the evidence collected by the device thrown out. The government responded that the evidence was admissible because it did not need to get a court order at all. [ Read more ... ]

Cops Can't Convert Car Into Tracking Device Without Court's OK: Via EFF.org Updates.

The Supreme Court of Massachusetts recently held that officers may not place GPS tracking devices on cars without first getting a warrant. The case, Commonwealth v. Connolly, was decided under the state corollary to the Fourth Amendment, and its reasoning may influence pending GPS tracking cases, including United States v. Jones, where EFF is an amicus.

Connolly decided that the installation of the GPS device was a seizure of the suspect’s vehicle. “When an electronic surveillance device is installed in a motor vehicle, be it a beeper, radio transmitter, or GPS device, the government's control and use of the defendant's vehicle to track its movements interferes with the defendant's interest in the vehicle notwithstanding that he maintains possession of it.” Thus, the court held this interference with the owner’s possessory interest requires a warrant. [ Read more ... ]

Cellphones to Monitor Highway Traffic - Via Slashdot:

Roland Piquepaille writes "On February 8, 2008, about 100 UC Berkeley students will participate in the Mobile Century experiment, using GPS mobile phones as traffic sensors. During the whole day, these students carrying the GPS-equipped Nokia N95 will drive along a 10-mile stretch of I-880 between Hayward and Fremont, California. [ Read more ... ]

Mail That Never Gets Lost - Via :

A paper-thin GPS unit that could help the postal service put an end to mail delays

Even snail mail is getting a tech upgrade. This month TrackingtheWorld, a California-based GPS developer, expects to begin mass-producing Letter Loggers—small GPS-equipped envelope inserts that could help the U.S. Postal Service spot bottlenecks in the system. The insert is durable enough to shoot through sorting machines without crushing the circuits. [ Read more ... ]

Students to feel safe with RFID and GPS-Based solution from AT&T - Via The RFID Weblog:

AT&T is keen on targeting the K - 12 education sector and for this purpose it has come up with an interoperable RFID and GPS based mobile resource management solution. The solution is expected to help in ensuring a better control over vehicles of the institutions, enhance safety of the students, bring down costs and increase staff productivity. This is the first network services company which has come forward to offer an integrated RFID and MRM solution for educational sector. [ Read more ... ]

U.S. says to reach GPS-Galileo agreement this week | Science | Reuters: "BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union are close to signing an agreement that would allow their satellite navigation systems to work together to provide more accurate images and information.

Under the agreement, which the United States says it expects to be signed this week, both EU and U.S. satellites would send information on the same radio frequency, enabling receivers to get signals from both systems and combine the data.

The EU's Galileo system is yet to be launched, and the benefits of the agreement will depend on makers of receivers wanting to accept both systems, but one senior U.S. official involved in the EU-U.S. talks said that was inevitable. [ Read more ... ]

US GPS, EU Galileo to Work Together: "saintory writes 'The US and EU are in talks to allow their separate GPS systems to work together. The future uses would allow enhanced location information based on two readings, among other benefits. [ Read more ... ]

Never say sorry I'm late again: "

Have your phone say it for you

A new smartphone application links to your diary and GPS to automatically let people know when you're running late.…

A new smartphone application links to your diary and GPS to automatically let people know when you're running late.

The Oops I'm Late app sends an SMS or makes a call to let a person know when you'll be arriving. [ Read more ... ]

California county tags gang members with GPS: "

GPS is great. Before handheld receivers became widespread, how did we ever find small boxes of random crap in the woods? Stalkers were among the first to see the technology's potential, using it to track the movements of ex-girlfriends by sticking modified cell phones beneath their vehicles, but the state of California thinks that GPS is ready to enter a new market: the hood.

San Bernardino county wants to start tagging gangbangers with GPS transponders. County commissioners have applied to the state to be part of a pilot program that would monitor all offenders who are released from jail after serving time for gang-related activities. [ Read more ... ]