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Two New Fed GPS Trackers Found On SUV

Posted by Soulskill on from the take-two-they're-small dept.

jcombel writes with this excerpt: "As the Supreme Court gets ready to hear oral arguments in a case Tuesday that could determine if authorities can track U.S. citizens with GPS vehicle trackers without a warrant, a young man in California has come forward to Wired to reveal that he found not one but two different devices on his vehicle recently. The 25-year-old resident of San Jose, California, says he found the first one about three weeks ago on his Volvo SUV while visiting his mother in Modesto, about 80 miles northeast of San Jose. After contacting Wired and allowing a photographer to snap pictures of the device, it was swapped out and replaced with a second tracking device. A witness also reported seeing a strange man looking beneath the vehicle of the young man’s girlfriend while her car was parked at work, suggesting that a tracking device may have been retrieved from her car. Then things got really weird when police showed up during a Wired interview with the man."

22 of 761 comments (clear)

  1. You wish you were this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What does a citizen have to do to get this kind of personalized attention from the government? Most of the time they just ignore you unless it's time for them to steal money from your wallet.

    1. Re:You wish you were this guy by bmo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >What does a citizen have to do to get this kind of personalized attention from the government?

      Nothing.

      --
      BMO

    2. Re:You wish you were this guy by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Informative

      > What does a citizen have to do to get this kind of personalized attention from the government?

      In this guy's case? Buy the SUV of your drug dealer cousin who fled the country and then visit Tijuana

      --
      Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
    3. Re:You wish you were this guy by canadian_right · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He may have a drug dealing cousin, but the police should need a warrant for this type of intrusive tracking.

      Papers please.

      --
      Anarchists never rule
    4. Re:You wish you were this guy by Khyber · · Score: 4, Informative

      I guess you hadn't heard about the original story, which was some kid that was merely a friend of someone of 'interest' and he had a GPS device placed on his vehicle.

      It was all over Reddit.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    5. Re:You wish you were this guy by rsmith-mac · · Score: 4, Interesting

      From TFA:

      It's unclear if authorities obtained a warrant to track Gregâ(TM)s vehicle

      Nowhere in the article does it say they don't have a warrant, merely that Wired doesn't know. Surveillance warrants don't require informing the suspect.

  2. Police Ssurveillance by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A serious question, one that I hope folks take seriously because I truly cannot answer this:

    If you were in front of the US Supreme Court and they asked you how this is fundamentally different than tracking your car through traditional police surveillance, how would you answer?

    I struggle for an answer myself. It feels wrong, but as far as I can tell that isn't a valid legal argument.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    1. Re:Police Ssurveillance by Riceballsan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      24/7 Surveillance on both public and private property perhaps? Traditional surveillance has limits of where and when they can monitor you. A GPS on the other hand is monitoring you 24/7 regardless of district, private/public property etc...

    2. Re:Police Ssurveillance by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you were in front of the US Supreme Court and they asked you how this is fundamentally different than tracking your car through traditional police surveillance, how would you answer?

      In the same way that listening to a conversation by bugging a person is considered different from listening in on their conversation from a nearby table in a restaurant. One involves the compromise of someone's personal property and effects (protected by the 4th amendment) and the other doesn't.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    3. Re:Police Ssurveillance by berashith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I had been under the impression that there were rules limiting this once, until I was under investigation. The rub was this ... I wasnt really under investigation. If I was, then there would have been a warrant. There was not enough information to get a warrant on me, so the ATF was digging around watching every move I made, trying to figure out what the hell I was up to. The funny bit here is that I was up to nothing, and had to keep proving it.

      I thought that the agent couldnt just sit and watch my house all the time, and he kind of confirmed that, but if I had gone to a movie, he would miraculously appear at my door as I was walking down the sidewalk. This was consistent, and it was obvious what he was doing, but if I questioned him he would give me a line about just happening to show up at the same time. This came complete with a smart ass smirk. So , I never was certain what the rules were, but I knew that I couldnt really get away from the game. The fact of the matter is ( at that time, way pre-9/11) , if the government has a reason to be suspicious they will be. You will have to prove yourself. The way I saw it then is that the system worked, even if it was a bit one sided and crooked.

    4. Re:Police Ssurveillance by Amouth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't there a limit where it becomes harassment? It's one thing if they have enough evidence to get a warrant - it's another if they are fishing blindly.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    5. Re:Police Ssurveillance by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There should be such a law. You show me an efficient government and I will show you an oppressive one.

      I was just following that logic to its inevitable conclusion.

      A better answer would be the police could not follow him across state lines, nor onto private property. This device might. This device also is consuming the victims fuel to be transported and may be wired into his car risking damage to the electrical system.

    6. Re:Police Ssurveillance by travisd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Or, more likely, your car had previously been sold thru a "Buy Here, Pay Here" type predatory dealership. They frequently use remote-shutdown devices to remotely disable vehicles of people who don't make their monthly payments. Another option is it was a poorly installed alarm. From all accounts, the GPS trackers that are being seen have plenty of on-board battery to not need any connection to the vehicle wiring. Post more details (like pics of the circuits) and I bet someone can tell you exactly what the device actually does...

  3. Americans fear their government by bazmail · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Americans fear their government more now than at any time in history. Kind of funny if your from foreignland.

    1. Re:Americans fear their government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Americans fear their government more now than at any time in history. Kind of funny if your from foreignland.

      Well, the american government fucked over entire nations in the course of the last 50 years, it is poetic justice that in the last years they have turned their attention to fucking over their own citizens instead.
      Whats good for the goose is good for the gander no ?

  4. No problem by mr1911 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you find a device like this on your car, have fun with it. Ship it across country - the government will know where the UPS guy is. Smash it open to see what is inside. Sell it on eBay. Report it to your local Sheriff as a suspicious device.

    Seriously though...
    Having cops follow you around to make their presence known is one hell of a way to use a covert surveillance device. The story isn't quite adding up.

    --
    This post comes with a double-your-money-back guarantee!
    Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
  5. Re:Welcome to the world of police intimidation by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you don't get that the point of this was to intimidate the reporter and discourage him from pursuing the story, you're either incredibly naive or you're being deliberately dense.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  6. Re:RTA by royallthefourth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The question here isn't whether the police ought to investigate criminal behavior, but whether they can use these tactics without a warrant. Big difference. If this guy really is so damn shady, they should have no trouble at all getting a warrant. If there's not even enough suspicion to get a warrant, he certainly deserves to be left alone.

  7. Could a cop hide in the boot too? by pipedwho · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Would it be ok if a cop hid in the boot of your car without a warrant instead?

  8. Are there any GPS scanners? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Are there any scanning devices to scan your car to see if you have one of these hidden somewhere?

    I'm sure you can do a thorough search from time to time- but if I want to know if I have one- is there a device I can buy to scan my car that isn't expensive?

    I suspect all the bad guys who are really trying to hide will just run GPS blockers on their cars.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  9. So if Driving Citizens by Phoenix666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    have no expectation of privacy and can be tracked at will by the police, do police therefore have no expectation of privacy and can be tracked at will by citizens? Sounds like a great argument. Think I'll run out, buy a bunch of these trackers, and stick them to the undercarriages of cop cars and then set up a web site that reports the position of every cop car in the city at all times in case you, um, need to call the cops.

    Either that must be the case, or cops must get a warrant to do this.

    If neither is the case, then the only option left to Americans is to fire every single person in every level of government with extreme prejudice, convene a constitutional convention, and start all over again from scratch.

    --
    Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
  10. Re:Simple solution to dealign with these trackers by IMightB · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How do you know it's gov property? There's no identification on it. It's stuck to your property. I'd say you own it and are free to do with it as you please.