Supreme Court debates GPS Tracking Case. Breyer: '1984' Scenario

[woo me with science]

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/115757.html

Supreme Court Debates Police GPS Tracking

By Margaret Rock | Wed Nov 09, 2011 12:16 pm

Supreme Court justices expressed concerns about police using GPS devices without a valid warrant to track suspects' movements, indicating serious reservations about technology's contribution to civilian monitoring.

Justice Stephen Breyer said if the Obama administration wins the case to permit tracking of vehicles by Global Positioning Systems, or GPS, without a valid warrant, "Then there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen."

Breyer compared that scenario to the Big Brother police state in the George Orwell novel "1984," as he and other justices questioned attorneys from both sides in the case of Antoine Jones.

Police placed a GPS device inside Jones' vehicle, a Washington D.C. nightclub owner suspected of being part of a cocaine operation. Law enforcement tracked Jones' movements for a month, gathering evidence to convict him of conspiring to sell cocaine. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the conviction, saying the sheer amount of information collected violated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

(more at link)

[Mz Pip]

1. Sounds like Alito and Scalia

don't find this to be a problem. One would think it would be the conservatives who would be jumping mad about these kinds of Big Brother tactics.

[SugarShack]

2. ehh-hemm....it sounds as if it's okay with Obama too.

[Mz Pip]

3. I hope he loses this one.

I didn't like the warrentless wiretapping from BushCo and I don't like this warrentless GPS tracking from Obama either.

[woo me with science]

7. The ACLU on Obama and Core Liberties

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2069714

[midnight]

4. Perhaps the Supremes are waking.

[elleng]

5. More info here:

Court Casts a Wary Eye on Tracking by GPS.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/us/supreme-court-casts-a-wary-eye-on-tracking-by-gps.html?ref=us

[woo me with science]

6. Thank you. nt

[Octafish]

8. Justice Breyer warns of Orwellian government

By Sarah Peters - 11/08/11 04:13 PM ET
The Hill

A Supreme Court justice on Tuesday expressed major concerns that the government would engage in round-the-clock surveillance reminiscent of the totalitarian world of the George Orwell novel 1984 if the court ruled in the government's favor.

The court heard oral arguments in the Jones case, in which the outcome will determine whether warrantless GPS tracking by law enforcement is an invasion of Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

Justice Stephen Breyer questioned what a democratic society would look like if people believed the government was tracking them for days at a time.

"If you win this case, then there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen of the United States,” Breyer said. “So if you win, you suddenly produce what sounds like 1984 from their brief."

U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben contended that if all Americans viewed warrantless tracking as an Orwellian invasion of privacy, Congress would step in with a legislative solution.

CONTINUED...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/192445-justice-breyer-warns-of-orwellian-government

We're so far through the looking glass it isn't even surreal.