.Justice Breyer warns of Orwellian government
A Supreme Court justice on Tuesday expressed major concerns that the government would engage in round-the-clock surveillance reminiscent of the totalitarian world of the George Orwell novel 1984 if the court ruled in the government's favor.
The court heard oral arguments in the Jones case, in which the outcome will determine whether warrantless GPS tracking by law enforcement is an invasion of Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
Justice Stephen Breyer questioned what a democratic society would look like if people believed the government was tracking them for days at a time.
"If you win this case, then there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen of the United States,” Breyer said. “So if you win, you suddenly produce what sounds like 1984 from their brief."
U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben contended that if all Americans viewed warrantless tracking as an Orwellian invasion of privacy, Congress would step in with a legislative solution.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that unlike earlier technology, GPS tracking gives law enforcement a “mosaic” that gives them the “whole picture” rather than just a slice of it.
Police suspected D.C. nightclub owner Antoine Jones of dealing cocaine and used a GPS tracker over the course of a month to trace his movements to a stash house in Maryland. Their warrant was expired when they installed the tracker.
The Hill
The court heard oral arguments in the Jones case, in which the outcome will determine whether warrantless GPS tracking by law enforcement is an invasion of Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
Justice Stephen Breyer questioned what a democratic society would look like if people believed the government was tracking them for days at a time.
"If you win this case, then there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen of the United States,” Breyer said. “So if you win, you suddenly produce what sounds like 1984 from their brief."
U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben contended that if all Americans viewed warrantless tracking as an Orwellian invasion of privacy, Congress would step in with a legislative solution.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that unlike earlier technology, GPS tracking gives law enforcement a “mosaic” that gives them the “whole picture” rather than just a slice of it.
Police suspected D.C. nightclub owner Antoine Jones of dealing cocaine and used a GPS tracker over the course of a month to trace his movements to a stash house in Maryland. Their warrant was expired when they installed the tracker.
The Hill
posted by madtom at 9:09 PM
2 Comments:
If you aren't doing anything wrong you don't care if they have the right to follow your every movement at every moment of your life. They do it with your online life, why not your physical life? What could possibly go wrong? What, me worry?
We could make millions with a programmable GPS blocker, signal scrambler, decoder. For just $19.95 and the man can think you went straight home from work...
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