Is law enforcement tracking your cell phone’s GPS more like intercepting a phone call or tailing someone on the street? A federal court decision says it’s more like following you\u2014which means the authorities don’t need to get a warrant to find out where you are at any given time.<\/p>\n
The case involves a marijuana courier, Melvin Skinner, whose disposable cell phone was being tracked by the Drug Enforcement Agency as he moved his cargo from Arizona to Tennessee. The DEA got a court order (not a warrant) compelling Skinner’s cell phone company to share his GPS information\u2014the release of which led to Skinner’s capture and arrest.<\/p>\n
Skinner’s lawyers argued the DEA tracking his cell\u00a0was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure because the location information being given off by his phone wasn’t publicly available.<\/p>\n
Two judges on the three judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, concluding that Skinner did not have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” regarding his cell phone GPS data. “If a tool used to transport contraband gives off a signal that can be tracked for location,” wrote\u00a0Judge John Marshall Rogers,” certainly the police can track the signal.”<\/p>\n