WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–June 27, 2011. The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear a case to decide whether law enforcement agencies must first establish probable cause and obtain a warrant before they can secretly attach a GPS tracking device to a vehicle. The ACLU of the National Capital Area and the Electronic Frontier Foundation previously submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, U.S. v. Jones, arguing that the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement applies and that the level of surveillance allowed by GPS goes beyond visual surveillance or the “beeper” devices used in the past. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed, and the government appealed.
