Does anyone think this should be legal?

Great Debates
1

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2013150,00.html

I thought this was Onion at first, then I thought it was just sensationalism. After snap judgments, I read it. Holy crap.

I did some research and, for those interested, the two precedents that seem most applicable are Katz v United States …and United States v Karo. If they had bugged the car before he owned it, then US v Karo would be pretty bulletproof. The trick is in defining privacy rights (as done in Katz v US).

Katz v US gives two criteria for privacy: “If (1) the individual “has exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy,” and (2) society is prepared to recognize that this expectation is (objectively) reasonable, then there is a right of privacy in the given circumstance.” (cited: Wikipedia, of course)

Where the argument to uphold the charges against Pinedo-Moreno fall short, is in tampering. It is expected that, unless there is a sign, DEA agents can take a short nap on my lawn or fedex guys can come to my door. Society recognizses that drug enforcement requires siestas and fedex guys are dedicated. What is not expected, and is in fact totally unreasonable, is the act of tampering (he had to pay fuel expenses for that homing beacon!) with a person’s goods while on their property,

Since when did sticking seemingly innocuous crap to people’s cars become a social norm?

The court, in upholding this, is saying that it is a socially reasonable expectation to bug a car. If the DEA can do it, then dammit, so can I. Now it would be okay to bug a politician’s personal vehicle. Does this mean I can find and sell locations of secret underground whore houses because they didn’t have a “do not electonically monitor this car” (demonstrating actual expectation of privacy) bumpersticker on their car?

Anyway, don’t trust a jailhouse lawyer that cites wikipedia. Maybe there are precedents written somewhere that say we can stick anything we want to other peoples property as long as nobody notices. Are there any legally-minded people that can argue for/against (especially for) this ruling?

2

Bricker does, as you would know if you’d noticed the thread about this exact subject on the front page of Great Debates.

3

If I may offer further advice for future threads, a two-sentence summary of what the issue is would help, too. Don’t bury the lead.

4

I don’t think it should be illegal, per se, to track the movements of vehicles on public highways. I do think that sticking foreign objects to private vehicles is criminal vandalism.

5

Anyone interested in this topic should probably read and post to the thread, already open, on the same topic.

Cops Putting GPS On Cars Without A Warrant?

This thread is closed.