...GPS Tracking Devices
Yasir Afifi is a 20 year old computer salesman and college student in San Francisco. He took his car in for an oil change and the mechanic noticed a strange wire hanging down. He followed the wire to a magnet. The were both confused so they posted a picture of the item online in hopes that someone would be able to tell them what it was. Two days later the FBI showed up to Afifi's apartment and demanded he give the equipment back. It turns out the equipment was a GPS tracking device that the FBI installed on his car without his permission or notice. Apparently in the state of California there is no need for a warrant to put one of these GPS' on a vehicle of a suspected terrorist, drug dealer, etc. In many states the law is different. They believe that the technology is an invasion of privacy and unnecessary. They also believe that the same information could be gathered by following the car of the suspect or by gaining a search warrant. Due tot he fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has a history of voting in favor of warrantless searches there is no way that Afifi can win a lawsuit if he chose to file one. As long as he drove his car on public roads the law is a tad skewed in the FBI's favor. However this is gaining a lot of attention and a lot of debate over privacy and surveillance laws. In this post 9/11 world many things have taken the backseat and the 1st t go was privacy. It can be assumed that we will never get it aback and that is the end of that, but every so often we gain a little, and I mean a little, back. I do
ubt this will be the case for that though In the end Afifi will just have to settle for being, what some are calling, a victim of racial profiling. I am going to give the FBI a Digit Down. Although it s their job to protect us, I do not want to live in fear. These days a simple e-mail could land you on a no fly list, and now I have to worry about my car being tracked as well! Maybe I should not post this, I could wake up with a tracking device under my car or my phone could be tapped. If so I guess I will just have to deal with it...
Yasir Afifi is a 20 year old computer salesman and college student in San Francisco. He took his car in for an oil change and the mechanic noticed a strange wire hanging down. He followed the wire to a magnet. The were both confused so they posted a picture of the item online in hopes that someone would be able to tell them what it was. Two days later the FBI showed up to Afifi's apartment and demanded he give the equipment back. It turns out the equipment was a GPS tracking device that the FBI installed on his car without his permission or notice. Apparently in the state of California there is no need for a warrant to put one of these GPS' on a vehicle of a suspected terrorist, drug dealer, etc. In many states the law is different. They believe that the technology is an invasion of privacy and unnecessary. They also believe that the same information could be gathered by following the car of the suspect or by gaining a search warrant. Due tot he fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has a history of voting in favor of warrantless searches there is no way that Afifi can win a lawsuit if he chose to file one. As long as he drove his car on public roads the law is a tad skewed in the FBI's favor. However this is gaining a lot of attention and a lot of debate over privacy and surveillance laws. In this post 9/11 world many things have taken the backseat and the 1st t go was privacy. It can be assumed that we will never get it aback and that is the end of that, but every so often we gain a little, and I mean a little, back. I do
ubt this will be the case for that though In the end Afifi will just have to settle for being, what some are calling, a victim of racial profiling. I am going to give the FBI a Digit Down. Although it s their job to protect us, I do not want to live in fear. These days a simple e-mail could land you on a no fly list, and now I have to worry about my car being tracked as well! Maybe I should not post this, I could wake up with a tracking device under my car or my phone could be tapped. If so I guess I will just have to deal with it...
No comments:
Post a Comment