General Question

Nullo's avatar

Should the government be allowed to sneak onto your property and apply GPS transmitters to your car?

Asked by Nullo (22028points) August 26th, 2010

Found this article, and was appalled.

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

20 Answers

squirbel's avatar

We should put them on all the police cars, and then make an app called SpotAPoPo!

But yeah, I object to this. It is condoned by the 9th District, but the D.C. District has prohibited it. I feel sorry for people living on that side of the country.

Ame_Evil's avatar

Err, why would you care that the government knows where you shop for groceries?

zophu's avatar

Haven’t cops been allowed to do this for years? It’s no big deal considering the world we live in.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Who’s watching the watchers?

@Ame_Evil Err, it is not the responsibility nor privilege of a government to keep tabs on its citizens. It is however a responsibility and privilege for citizens to keep tabs on its government.

I’m all for total transparency. But government and law enforcement has proven itself to be just as corrupt as the general population, and more so. It is we who should be watching them, not the other way around. End corporate scandal while you’re at it by placing live web feed cam/recorders in every boardroom.

The power should be with the people.

chyna's avatar

They would be extremely bored with me.
I don’t think it should be allowed. You would have rouge officials spying on their g/f’s, b/f’s, or S/O.
Who is to determine what person should be watched? The people whose name appears on the the no fly list? That list includes children.
Muslims?
Mentally ill people.
Where does it start and stop?

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

It stops after I get a direct line on watching you! Boring are ya? I’d doubt it, especially after I whisper freaky shit through the speakers while your driving.

“Chyna!!! This is Zeuss… You’re not putting enough tzatziki on your gyros!”

zophu's avatar

It’s not for the average person that we demand personal privacy. It’s for the parent who’s child was abused by a high-ranking official and the crime covered up; it’s for the artists who are developing shockingly motivational dissident pieces; for the government worker who overheard too much. It’s for the new-thinkers and whistle-blowers who need time to position themselves to speak out to the masses before being detected by the censor.

lillycoyote's avatar

It’s outrageous.

cockswain's avatar

Let’s all put GPS on their cars!

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

It is thoroughly predictable in a world where conservatives support an measure demanded by corporate interests or “national security” requirements.

The conservative assumption is that honest people have no reason to fear it and dishonest people have not right to object to it. Individual rights are no longer fashionable. How much we have learned from mainland China!

daytonamisticrip's avatar

They shouldn’t, but who is to stop them. They also shouldn’t rig your house and neighborhood with small unnoticeable cameras.

lillycoyote's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence And every American should get on his or her knees and kiss whatever little piece of America that he or she happens to be standing on and thank god that the framers’ of the Constitution didn’t believe that “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear” from overreaching and abuses of power by the government.

Nullo's avatar

@Dr_Lawrence Not small-government conservatives.

Dr_Dredd's avatar

@Nullo Interesting. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police cannot probe the interior of a house with a heat-sensing device (to look for marijuana plants) without a warrant. Justice Scalia actually wrote the majority opinion, and said that there is “the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from governmental intrusion.”

Now, a car isn’t a home, but it is an enclosed space where people can retreat to. I wonder if the current Supreme Court would apply the same reasoning to warrantless GPS tracking.

perspicacious's avatar

Yes, with a warrant.

zophu's avatar

@perspicacious that is a good point. . .

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

Sure, go ahead and try. My vehicles are locked indoors at night; anyone breaking in will be shot dead, no questions asked. Local judges take a very dim view of burglars, no matter who they work for.

busymommy247's avatar

I don’t agree with it. I wouldn’t have a problem with it if it weren’t for the fact that I have been harassed by the police one to many times for no good reason. I try to keep to myself now just because of it. I don’t really think it matters to much where we are at but it feels to me like it’s a violation of privacy. I believe if there is a good reason for the gps being put in place, it’s ok only with a warrent.

DocteurAville's avatar

I heard about it. I think it is abusive and disrespectful.

What if one has a gps device put in their cars and they remove it? Is that a crime? I think not, as it was put in your property. Independently of the case that one’s car runs in public property (public roads, etc). They say if your car is on your driveway, it is public place –unless you have a fence. That is absurd!

It does happen because people allow it. I say this because their is a tale that says “if you are careful about your privacy, you may be hiding something” ...

Got Patriotic Act?

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