Washington Supreme Court will decide if police need warrant for GPS 'tracking

Court will decide if police need warrant for GPS ‘tracking’

But what if the same secret technology, called global positioning satellite tracking, could track anyone at any time?

The Washington Supreme Court will decide soon whether police agencies throughout the state may use the device freely – without a warrant. The Jackson case is the first in the state dealing with the issue.

Update: The court unanimously decided that a warrant is required:

OLYMPIA, WA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington today hailed a unanimous, first-in-the-nation ruling by the Washington Supreme Court that police must obtain a warrant in order to track an individual’s movements with Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The ruling agrees with arguments the ACLU submitted in a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.

“The ACLU applauds the court’s ruling in this landmark case. Tracking a person’s movements by GPS is highly intrusive. It is the equivalent of placing an invisible police officer in the back seat of a person’s car,” said ACLU of Washington Privacy Project Director Doug Klunder, who wrote the ACLU’s brief.