Two New Fed GPS Trackers Found On SUV

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."

Welcome to the world of police intimidation

[elrous0]

When this reporter drove down to meet Greg and photograph the second tracker with photographer Snyder, three police cars appeared at the location that had been pre-arranged with Greg, at various points driving directly behind me without making any verbal contact before leaving.

After moving the photo shoot to a Rotten Robbie gas station a mile away from the first location, another police car showed up. In this case, the officer entered the station smiling at me and turned his car around to face the direction of Greg’s car, a couple hundred yards away. He remained there while the device was photographed. A passenger in the police car, dressed in civilian clothes, stepped out of the vehicle to fill a gas container, then the two left shortly before the photo shoot was completed.

I bet that reporter thought that sort of thing only happened in *other* countries before that day.

Police Ssurveillance

[MyLongNickName]

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.

Americans fear their government

[bazmail]

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

No problem

[mr1911]

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.

Simple solution to dealign with these trackers

[Jailbrekr]

1) Find a place where trains pass somewhat slowly
2) Wait for slow moving train
3) Stick tracker on outside of train car

Re:Police Ssurveillance

[berashith]

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.

Re:Police Ssurveillance

[Crudely_Indecent]

I found one of these devices in a used car I purchased. The only reason I found it was because of some electrical issues I was having. Upon tracing the electrical issue I found the device (poorly) wired into the electrical system causing an intermittent short. After removing the device, and fixing the wiring harness - I showed it to my family who admitted that maybe my paranoia had some validity.

I've still got the device. I use it to win arguments against people who say the government doesn't do these sorts of things. Now that this is in the news, I guess I won't be having those arguments anymore.

Re:Welcome to the world of police intimidation

[Spykk]

I think you are mistaken. The only thing that police could accomplish by intentionally trying to intimidate a reporter without being explicit enough to threaten him is to make the story that much jucier. Do you really believe that the officer brought a gas can and someone in civilian clothes along to go intimidate a reporter? He was likely giving someone who had run out of gas a ride and the reporter chose to interperet the encounter as some sort of nebulous conspiracy to get some publicity for the story.

Could a cop hide in the boot too?

[pipedwho]

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

Are there any GPS scanners?

[Oswald McWeany]

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.

Re:You wish you were this guy

[rsmith-mac]

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.

Re:Police Ssurveillance

[travisd]

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...

Re:Americans fear their government

[uigrad_2000]

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

You don't know much about American history, then.

200 years ago, The Federalist Party wanted a strong centralized government, and couldn't compete with the Democrat-Republican Party. People opposed any expansion of government at the time, and the idea that the federal government could run their own bank and carry their own debt was so hated by people that they lost every election from 1800 to 1820, and eventually folded. Today, if any politician wanted the government to shrink to that size, they would just be laughed away by all current parties (except maybe libertarian)

100 years ago, no one would have trusted the government to even regulate schools. Now, the government owns the school system, and teachers can't discuss their own religion because they are government employees!

75 years ago, there was incredible opposition to Social Security, even though the average SS check to a retired person would only be $17.50 per month, and would be based on that individual's wages over the previous 5 years. Today, SS provides enough income that many people live off of it, and all retired citizens are eligible.

In 1973, the Federal government wanted to implement a national speed limit. The current opinion was that it was obviously unconstitutional. Finally the law was made, but it wasn't a mandate. States only had to comply if they wanted to continue receiving federal funding for their roads. The courts decided to let it slide. This set the standard for how laws were crafted for 20 years. Today, our legislatures don't even give a second thought for stuff like this. The courts don't even challenge them.

If US citizens feared the government just half as much as they did 100 years ago, then we wouldn't have HUD. We wouldn't have the TSA. The FDA would only regulate selling drugs with incorrect labels, and there would be no banned substances list. We wouldn't have government schools. We wouldn't have the DMV. We wouldn't have Food Stamps or Welfare. We wouldn't have government backed student loans or government backed car companies. Our cars would not need to pass emission testing, and would not be limited by cafe standards. Our showers could put out any amount of water that the customer chose, and we wouldn't have laws regulating what method we use for generating light in our houses. And no one would even think of trying to implement government health care.

The security stuff is rather strange. I don't think the government should be allowed to track you any more than I am allowed to track you. If people wake up and suddenly realize that the government is controlling too much and becoming dangerous because of this, then it's a good discussion.