Court forces FBI to turn off 3,000 GPS monitoring devices

FBI GPS tracking device

The Supreme Court recently overturned the  warrantless use of GPS tracking devices.

The "U.S. v. Jones" decision has caused a big changes  inside the U.S. Justice Department.

FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann presented to a University of San Francisco conference called “Big Brother in the 21st Century." He said that the court ruling prompted the FBI to turn off about 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use.

The Supreme Court ruled that using a device to track a car owner without a search warrant was a violation of the law.

An Egyptian student found the device in the graphic under his car when he took his car to a mechanic for an oil change. 

Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, the Ninth Circuit in California and 8 other states said there was no requirement for a warrant prior to this kind of tracking.

Law enforcement could come onto your property and plant a tracking device on your car since you have no reasonable expectation of privacy on your driveway.

Now the police must first tray to get a warrant form a judge which means the police first have to provide justification for tracking a vehicle.

graphic source: http://www.securitygeneration.com

sources: WSJ and Cryptlogon

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