Secret FBI tracking ignites legal firestorm

[G_j]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101016/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants

Oil change reignites debate over GPS trackers

By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer Paul Elias, Associated Press Writer – Sat Oct 16, 2:30 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old computer salesman and community college student, took his car in for an oil change earlier this month and his mechanic spotted an odd wire hanging from the undercarriage.

The wire was attached to a strange magnetic device that puzzled Afifi and the mechanic. They freed it from the car and posted images of it online, asking for help in identifying it.

Two days later, FBI agents arrived at Afifi's Santa Clara apartment and demanded the return of their property — a global positioning system tracking device now at the center of a raging legal debate over privacy rights.

One federal judge wrote that the widespread use of the device was straight out of George Orwell's novel, "1984".

"By holding that this kind of surveillance doesn't impair an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy, the panel hands the government the power to track the movements of every one of us, every day of our lives," wrote Alex Kozinski, the chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a blistering dissent in which a three-judge panel from his court ruled that search warrants weren't necessary for GPS tracking.

But other federal and state courts have come to the opposite conclusion.

..more..

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[TexasObserver]

2. recommend

[maryf]

3. Thanks!

I have something weird hanging from my car...hmmm...K&R

[Scuba]

4. Well, what did you think they were doing?

[pscot]

5. Arabic sounding name

Interest in computers; the kid has to be a threat to The National Security State. Stands to reason.

[G_j]

8. "Yasir Afifi"

I'm sure that was enough right there..

[Walk dont run]

14. What? This story doesn't make sense.

"The federal appeals court based in Washington D.C. said
in August that investigators must obtain a warrant for GPS in
tossing out the conviction and life sentence of Antoine Jones,
a nightclub owner convicted of operating a cocaine
distribution ring"

"The Obama administration last month asked the D.C.
federal appeals court to change its ruling, calling the
decision "vague and unworkable" and arguing that
investigators will lose access to a tool they now use
"with great frequency."

The news source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101016/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants

Is the President's administration asking for GPS warrantless
tracking of citizens?   Can't be.  I thought he was against
the patriot act and stuff like that.  He campaigned against
this sort of thing!   Something isn't right - either the story
is wrong or someone in the administration is going to get
fired for screwing up.

[G_j]

16. the Patriot Act etc. is still with us...

no change there..

[EFerrari]

6. How did our oil get into his car?

:yoiks:

[gratuitous]

7. Welcome back to the worst excesses of COINTELPRO

The benign-sounding "mail covers," secret wiretaps, covert surveillance, all carried out under the rubric of "national security." I'd like to see a law passed that makes police-state abuses tantamount to treason by the ordering authority and the flunkies who carry them out. If the only reason you can proffer is some bogus "national security" nonsense for harrassing citizens, off to jail you go. If you don't have reasonable suspicion, supported by independent evidence, leave citizens alone.

Motherfuckers. This isn't change, and I don't believe it has anything to do with the American system.

[G_j]

12. back..& on steroids... nt

[Gormy Cuss]

9. What's also appalling was the way Affi was treated after he removed the GPS unit.

Demanding it back and using its removal as an excuse to badger him? Unbelievable.

If I found something like that on my car I'd post in on the internet just like Affi, and then I'd smash it to pieces. I guess that would make me a terrorist because I was interfering with a LE operation and destroyed Federal property. :eyes:

[hunter]

10. Why smash an innocent piece of hardware?

I'm certain I could hack it into something interesting.

[csziggy]

15. I'd stick on a bus or taxi

And give the FBI interesting data to peruse!

Lots of suggestions on an earlier thread about this story. Sorry, I don't have the link to it.

[Individualist]

11. K&R

[G_j]

13. k