[IP] No expectation of privacy in public? In a pig's eye! (fwd from dave at farber.net)

[Bill Stewart]

At 12:30 PM 1/12/2005, Roy M. Silvernail wrote:
>Just out of curiosity, if the man doesn't need a warrent
>to place a surveilance device, shouldn't it be within your rights
>to tamper with, disable or remove such a device if you discover one?

Do you mean that if you discover an unsolicited gift of
consumer electronics attached to your car,
do you have the right to play with it just as you would if
it came in the mail?  I would certainly expect so...

On the other hand, if it appears to be a lost item,
you could be a good public citizen and take it to the police
to see if anybody claims it...

"GPS tracker" is an ambiguous description, though.
GPS devices detect where they are, but what next?
A device could record where it was, for later collection,
or it could transmit its position to a listener.
Tampering with existing recordings might have legal
implications, but putting a transmitter-based system
in your nearest garbage can or accidentally leaving it in a taxi
or mailing it to Medellin all seem like reasonable activities.





----
Bill Stewart  bill.stewart at pobox.com