GPS Tracking and the courts

Litmus test in GPS cop case -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

ALBANY — Four days before Christmas in 2005, state police placed a battery-operated GPS device known as a "Q-ball" on the car of a suspected burglar.


The gadget — a homing device right out of James Bond lore — led to his arrest and conviction by jury.

Three years and three months later, the state's highest court will hear arguments today on whether police were empowered to put the tracking device on his van without obtaining a warrant.

The potentially precedent-setting case before the Court of Appeals pits concerns of privacy against the ability of law enforcement to use its latest technology against suspected criminals.

The man's attorney is calling the police use of GPS an intrusive and possibly Orwellian tactic that violates the U. S. Constitution's safeguards against unreasonable search and seizure. And he wants the Court of Appeals to require law enforcement obtain a search warrant before using GPS tracking.

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