Big Brother is Watching

This is the title of an article in Time magazine, published 9/13/2010.  And, the issue being litigated makes a great exam question for the California bar examiners (or any other bar or law school exam.)

What is the issue?  Do police have the right, without a warrant, to place a GPS tracking device on the bottom of your car while your car is parked on the driveway of your home?  The 9th circuit concluded that "this doesn't violate your 4th amend. right because, without a gate or no-trespassing sign, you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway."

This holding, in turn, caused me to explore GPS tracking devices that you can install on your telephone to track the location of your children (if you have them) or, perhaps, to determine the location of your "cheating" spouse.  It begs the question, "Do I really want to have the GPS device on my cell phone enabled?"

The dissent in the aforementioned holding, Chief Judge Alex Kozinksi, "pointed out that by this logic, only wealthy people who protect their property with electric gates and security booths have a zone of privacy around their homes. . .[and that] the government is free to use [the GPS device] to track people without getting a warrant."

Given the twist in Cal Bar's July 2010 bar exam concerning pedestrian checkpoints, it might be a good idea to watch the outcome of this case which is expected to go up to the Supreme Court given that a recent case in another appellate court (D.C.) ruled opposite the holding in the 9th circuit.