http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42895,00.html ATF Admits Tracking Jim Bell by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com) 10:20 a.m. Apr. 6, 2001 PDT TACOMA, Washington -- The government revealed Thursday that it implanted a satellite-tracking device in a suspect's car and tracked him as he drove around Oregon and Washington. Brian Meyer, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, testified that he installed a GPS bug last November in a Nissan Maxima owned by defendant Jim Bell. Meyer told a fascinated jury that the device -- "high quality, something that military and law enforcement uses" -- continually transmitted Bell's exact location using a radio signal to receivers operated by law enforcement. Federal agents used graphical mapping software on a PC to plot Bell's movements in real time. Political essayist Bell is on trial here this week in a case that involves his alleged use of legally obtained CD-ROMs to compile information about Treasury Department agents. He is not accused of directly threatening them, but the government says that by collecting information about agents by driving to their suspected residences and by refusing to renounce his writings about how to assassinate unethical federal employees, Bell is guilty of violating stalking laws. The government hopes to prove that Bell crossed state lines when driving from Vancouver, Washington along I-205 to 14135 S. Clackamas Drive in Oregon City, Oregon. That address is the current home of Christopher John Groener, who testified on behalf of the prosecution, and the former residence of ATF agent Mike McNall. [...] ----- End forwarded message -----