Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/25/court-rules-that-removing-a-gp.html
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12 Likes
I’m sure this “victory” has bankrupt him 
19 Likes
Perhaps the police could be kind enough to mark their hidden, illegal surveillance devices with a return tag.
35 Likes
How the hell did an appeals court conclude that if someone finds a strange object attached to their car, it’s theft to remove it? It should never have had to gone to the Indiana Supreme Court.
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Yeah, without government property markings, there is no reason to believe that it belongs to the government and is authorized by a warrant. ISTM the the logical thing to do is to mail it to a country that has really expensive roaming charges.
42 Likes
Some judges are just cop-friendly, and happy to give them extra privileges like this.
27 Likes
So if you take cops’ shit out of your property, it’s theft, but if cops take your shit out of your property, it’s civil forfeiture…
56 Likes
A very, very good reminder that cases with unsympathetic defendants make the meaningful law.
23 Likes
Next up they will try to argue that by not returning the bullets they shot them with that suspects are stealing police equipment.
32 Likes
The police will just bundle the gps with something that would be considered stolen.
Even if the police had a warrant to put the tracker in/on the guy’s car, I still think it would be crazy to consider it theft to remove it. After all, the guy wouldn’t know there is a warrant for it. The warrant would just make the info gathered admissible in court.
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It’s a short step from there to being charged for information retrieval, as in Brazil (the movie)
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From the case report I can see that he had a Ford Expedition which uses Sync and requires the user’s phone to be paired to make outbound calls. Unless Ford and or Sync are lying then this is why they had to place a tracker in his car. On most other cars, like my BMW X5, there would be no reason to plant one since they can just tell BMW to ask the car where it is or download a log of where it’s been. This is because my car, and most others now, have their own cell radio and gps even when you don’t have a navigation option (I don’t). I found this out back in 2010 when I was messing with the built in interface and arrived at a screen with my Lat Long coordinates displayed. Not having my phone paired and not having the Nav option it was a little weird to say the least. That is when I found out about the built in “secret” systems (their existence is not directly mentioned anywhere in the manual). I popped the hatch, pulled the side panel, and disconnected the ECU that managed this functionality then sold it on Ebay for $300. I lost Bluetooth connectivity to the car but I have no use for that and just plug my phone in with a mini stereo for better audio that bluetooth anyway.
29 Likes
The Sync on my Fiesta can’t even get the correct time from my phone, and software updates are done by running a USB stick out to the car.
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It would be such a shame to park right next to a high-powered EMP generator.
11 Likes
Zapping it a few times with the spark from a piezoelectric BBQ lighter (away from the car in case of fumes) might do the trick.
7 Likes
I was thinking they’d get on you for “property damage” if they could see any burn marks, dents or scratches. I was thinking EMP or perhaps strong Microwaves to fry whatever’s inside but not actually melt anything or make it appear damaged.
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Oh look! A sim card … FREE DATA! Whoohoo!
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I would have just attached it to another car. Let them follow someone else around for awhile.
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Couldn’t it be considered an anonymous gift, and his to do with what he pleased?
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