FBI Surveillance: What Tracking Devices Look Like
In a ruling that affects all of us, in August the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that placing tracking devices on cars does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Law enforcement only has to believe you are a criminal, and can place a GPS tracking device on your car without a warrant – even if your car is parked in your own driveway.
Thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center for much of this information.
GPS tracking device have been used in numerous animal rights legal cases, including the cases of Andreas San Diego and Kevin Olliff. This recent ruling is affects law enforcement rules in nine western states, and allows the FBI and other law enforcement in Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii to place tracking devices on vehicles without a warrant. Another circuit court has disagreed, and the issue will likely end up in the Supreme Court.
Until then, in the above-mentioned nine states, the FBI now has free reign to track us warrantlessly. The best defense now is to know what FBI GPS tracking devices look like. If you find devices like these on the underside of your vehicle (often held with magnets), you are being tracked by police or the FBI:
It should be noted that the device pictured is an older model and that newer models do not contain batteries and are instead inside the engine and wired to the car’s battery.
The Land of Freedom. For whom I wonder 🙁
If they were so clever on real criminals probably yours would be a safer Country
Thanks for the tip and info. In the future, when citing a caselaw, if you could include the case name, and if possible a link for the case, that would be very helpful and informative as well.
While most do, they don’t all look like this. It is best to get a bug sweeper for GPS. I would also recommended to research them online. I too, have been tracked.
Thanks for this. Although not in US I am under watch as an Animal Rights Hands On in a foreign country and have had computer and photo copier taken for 4 months and returned,mobile phone tapped and proof messages erased, and now my land line phone from street to house not working!!!
Things you would only think 007 gets into!!!
Check out this post on indybay about a person being wired by the FBI, not animal-liberation related
Caught spying, FBI demands GPS tracker back from Santa Clara student
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/10/08/18660897.php
Can you remove these devices?