Opinions

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Dangers of GPS tracking

Americans have shown that they are reluctant to curtail government surveillance as long as they are convinced it focuses solely on criminals and terrorists. But civil libertarians argue that, with no legal constraints, the eye in the sky soon will be focused on all of us, guilty and innocent alike.

The latest twist in this debate is the use of Global Positioning Systems -- of GPS -- in tracking suspected criminals. The small devices that pinpoint locations using satellite beams can easily be attached to suspects' vehicles and monitored from a distance.

The device, now in growing use by police departments nationwide, already has helped capture criminals in the act, prevent harm to victims and trace evidence that has led to convictions. Police insist that the device provides no more information than what an officer could glean by tailing a suspect.

But critics say the GPS is capable of surveying far more than an officer on the street -- so much more, in fact, that it violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Critics argue that GPS devices can track suspects' vehicles not only on public streets, where officers could legally tail them, but also on private property, where police would be prohibited from following.

Police are not required to seek a warrant before attaching a GPS to a car. GPS surveillance now falls into roughly the same category as tailing a car on the basis of suspicious activity.

We can't deny that the GPS is a useful tool in law enforcement. In one sense, it merely expands what an officer could see with his own eyes.

But we worry about the broader ramifications of surveillance by GPS without a warrant or even the need to offer compelling reasons to a judge for tailing a suspect. If police have an entirely free hand in using these devices to track people, how will society keep them honest?

It is easy enough to see how GPS tracking could be abused. It could be used to capture embarrassing information about an innocent citizen, which then could be used to coerce or even blackmail that citizen.

Most of us, however law-abiding we might be, wouldn't relish the idea of having our every move tracked by police. But with no legal restraints, we have no way to prevent them from doing that.

We don't favor banning the use of GPS devices by police altogether. But, as with most surveillance, cops should be required to get a warrant or permission from a judge before placing a GPS device on a suspect's car.

In other words, they should have a good reason before they trace the movements of any individual. Otherwise, unfettered power to track Americans is sure to result in unconstitutional abuses of that power.