Split Panel Affirms Warrantless Use of GPS Device
Joel Stashenko
New York Law Journal
June 9, 2008
The warrantless use of a global positioning device on a vehicle by police does not violate a driver's right to privacy under either the U.S. Constitution or the New York state Constitution, an upstate appeals panel decided last week.
In becoming what it said was the first state appeals court in New York to address the issue, the Appellate Division, 3rd Department, panel determined that the privacy expectations of individuals under both the federal and state constitutions are lower when they are in their automobiles than when they are in their homes.
"Because we recognize the diminished expectation of privacy in a vehicle on a public roadway ... we cannot agree that the NY Constitution precluded the warrantless placement of the GPS tracking device on defendant's vehicle or retrieval of its data in connection with this ongoing police investigation," a 4-1 panel held in People v. Weaver, 101104.
As to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the panel found that nothing prevents the use of technology, such as the satellite-aided positioning devices, to "surveil that which is already public."
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Read Full Text of Decision here.