In a landmark decision [pdf], the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that government agents violated the Constitution when they tracked a suspect for 28 days using a GPS device installed without a warrant.
The case, US v. Jones, was right out of the television show The Wire: The government suspected a nightclub owner of being part of a drug operation. Investigators installed a GPS tracking device on the undercarriage of an SUV used by the suspect and tracked him 24/7 for nearly a month, ultimately using the evidence they obtained to convict him of conspiracy to sell cocaine.
The Justice Department argued in the Supreme Court that no one has a right of privacy while exposing themselves to observation on the public roads, even if technology makes possible a degree of surveillance that is impossible for human beings. Not a single Justice agreed.
The three opinions issued by the Justices in explaining their holding are important for several reasons.
First, the Court made it clear that it will not casually allow technology to erode the Constitutional right to privacy. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), as part of a project supported by the Open Society Foundations, had submitted a brief in the case [pdf] in which we explained how GPS tracking was fundamentally different from human observation. Our brief was signed by leading technologists, including one often credited with being the inventor of GPS. Five of the Justices expressed concerns in their opinions about the range of new technologies that make possible surveillance of unprecedented intrusiveness.
Second, the Court clarified its interpretation of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The lead opinion, written by Justice Scalia, focused on the fact that the government had physically occupied private property (even though very minimally) for the purpose of obtaining information. That alone was enough for five Justices to find that the government’s action was a “search” under the Fourth Amendment, which generally requires the government to obtain a warrant issued by a judge before conducting a search. However, Justice Scalia made it clear that property was not the only basis of Fourth Amendment violations. Justice Scalia reaffirmed that a Fourth Amendment violation also occurs when government officers violate a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy.
Four concurring Justices, in an opinion by Justice Alito, argued that the reasonable expectation of privacy test was more suited to the computer age (while recognizing that it had its own difficulties). These Justices felt that relatively short-term monitoring of a person’s movements on public streets accords with reasonable expectations of privacy, but that prolonged monitoring does not.
Factually, the case was limited to installation and use of a GPS device owned by the government, but Justice Alito’s opinion clearly has implications for the government’s use of data from cell phones to triangulate a person’s position. If, as the concurring Justices said, there is a reasonable expectation not to be tracked for a prolonged period of time, that expectation would seem to apply whether the tracking occurs by the government’s GPS device or by the phones, laptops and other mobile devices we carry with us every day.
Perhaps the most interesting opinion was written by Justice Sotomayor, who agreed with Justice Scalia’s property-based theory but wrote separately to emphasize that the reasonable expectation test offered an alternative basis for the Court’s bottom line. Thus, at least a majority of five Justices seem ready to hold that a warrant is normally required for prolonged location monitoring even if it does not involve the physical intrusion of a government-planted GPS device. (Justice Sotomayor suggested that even short-term monitoring may violate the reasonable expectation test, given unique attributes of GPS surveillance.)
Justice Sotomayor then went on to question the core of the government’s argument – the premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to third parties (whether by walking down the street or by browsing the Internet and disclosing the website addressing information to your ISP). Expanding on the rationale of Justice Alito, she said she doubted whether “people would accept without complaint the warrantless disclosure to the government of a list of every Web site they had visited in the last week, or month, or year.”
This question – whether we really do surrender our expectation of privacy in the vast stores of data we disclose daily in the course of using modern technology – represents the next phase of litigation in the digital age over the constraints on government surveillance imposed by the Fourth Amendment.
For now, even with respect to cell phone tracking, the decision leaves many questions unanswered. In his opinion, Justice Alito essentially urged Congress to get involved and draft legislation drawing detailed lines.
We at the Center for Democracy & Technology agree that Congress has a major role. We have helped organize a coalition of major Internet companies, think tanks, and advocacy groups from across the political spectrum that is calling on Congress to require a warrant for cell phone tracking in most cases.
Revitalization of the Fourth Amendment must occur in both the courts and the legislature. The Supreme Court’s decision this week is a major step forward.
Nurses Improve Clinical Documentation with Celio REDFLY and Homecare Homebase. htctouchpronow.net htc touch pro
Biotech Week October 28, 2009 For Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey (VNACJ), mobility is everything. To effectively provide and document the best in-home care and rehabilitation for newly discharged hospital and in-home patients they need mobile technology that complies with federal regulations and allows them to effectively document and track patient information. They found a solution in Celio Corp's REDFLY Mobile Companion and Homecare Homebase Software (see also Celio Corp).
"Homecare Homebase software provides excellent documentation capability and immediate online access to patient records and service information," said John Albright, Director of IT for the VNACJ. "For many of our nurses, the REDFLY offers the flexibility of using a larger screen and keyboard to input and review information or images. The additional benefit to the solution is that it gives our field staff a laptop experience in a more cost-efficient, travel-friendly and light-weight manner, without the costs or risks normally associated with laptops." The REDFLY is a mobile companion device with a large screen and full keyboard that enables VNACJ's clinical field staff to use Homecare Homebase's PointCare application on their company-issued HTC Touch Pro PDAs. Since the REDFLY has no hard drive, the patient data stays entirely secure on an encrypted database on the nurse's handheld device-an especially critical issue for the healthcare industry, which continues to drive procedures that ensure HIPAA compliance. go to site htc touch pro
The VNACJ recently deployed more than 200 REDFLYs to its field clinicians, and has plans for a complete rollout of 300-400 units by the end of the year.
"Visiting Nurse of Central Jersey shows how a company can use REDFLY and combine it with a fully integrated software solution like Homecare Homebase to save money and improve efficiency and patient care," said Kirt Bailey, president and CEO of Celio Corp. "The REDFLY is ideal for any company with a mobile work force that is looking to leverage their investment in smartphones and handheld software applications." For information about the REDFLY Mobile Companion, visit www.celiocorp.com.
For information about Homecare Homebase, visit www.hchb.com.
Home Depot, Allstate Partnership to Save Insurer Millions in Home Repair Costs.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 23, 2000 | Bond, Patti May 24--Home Depot and Allstate Corp. have partnered to save the insurer as much as $50 million a year in home repair costs by encouraging contractors to buy supplies from the building supply giant.
Allstate, the second-largest U.S. home insurer, will refer policyholders with property damage claims to Home Depot for floor covering, building products and installation. this web site home depot promotion code
Although Allstate isn't requiring customers to use Home Depot, the insurance company expects to send a significant amount of business to the Atlanta-based retail chain.
"Not counting catastrophes, our average payout is $1.8 billion to $2 billion in property claims each year," said Doug Raucy, a senior manager overseeing the alliance at Allstate. The company estimates it pays another $1 billion a year in catastrophe losses, which vary widely and are hard to predict. "There's a lot of money (in claims) out there that Home Depot is looking at." The alliance won't directly benefit Allstate policyholders. "We're not going to go out and reduce rates tomorrow, but if we can save money on building materials and offer good quality across the country, we'll improve customer satisfaction," Raucy said.
Under the partnership, Allstate insurance adjusters will work with more than 970 Home Depot stores in the United States to buy replacement materials. Allstate estimates it will save money in claim costs if contractors buy reasonably priced goods at Home Depot.
The pact could be especially lucrative for Home Depot's growing floor-covering business. Allstate expects to pay about $100 million this year in carpet damage claims alone, Raucy said. "Home Depot could get between 30 to 40 percent of that initially." The deal should also benefit Home Depot's expanding installation business.
Home Depot offers carpet, tile and other floor-covering installation at all of its stores. Other services, such as roofing, are being rolled out across the country as the retailer tries to increase installation sales by 40 percent a year. Sales of installed garage doors, water heaters and other goods generated about $1.5 billion last year.
"This (partnership) is a smart move by Home Depot, but it doesn't mean they'll get all of Allstate's business," said Lehman Brothers analyst Alan Rifkin. "The customer still has the option of using his own contractor." Allstate looked at other partners and chose Home Depot because of its buying power as the largest home improvement retailer, Raucy said.
"The nice thing about Home Depot is its ability to get building materials quickly. If a hurricane comes up and we need 8 million sheets of plywood, nobody else can get it except Home Depot," he said. go to site home depot promotion code
Lowe's Cos., a distant No. 2 behind Home Depot, is expanding nationally but is less than two-thirds the size with about 590 stores.
The Home Depot pact comes as Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate faces increasing pressure to cut costs. Known for selling insurance through some 15,000 agents, Allstate has added Internet and other direct marketing methods to compete with lower-cost competitors.
"We have to reduce expenses and remain competitive because there are so many insurance companies entering the market," Allstate's Raucy said.
Daniel Hoppes, director of national insurance programs for Home Depot, said the retailer would look at similar relationships with other insurance companies.
Bond, Patti
Stay Informed
This is great news. Finally, the voice of reasoning is winning and the self-serving convictions of bigotry is beginning to back fire on the lips they originate from.
Thank you for sharing the excellent news.
Best regards.
Sam
Well done, American Judges.
This issue is boiling here in Canada after the Justice Minister defined opposition to his proposed Act allowing police to snoop without warrant, as "with the pedophiles."