Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GPS TRACKING: AN
INVASION OF PRIVACY
Submitted to:
Atty. Romulo De Grano, Jr.
Submitted by:
De Guzman, Roxanne Trixie D.
2012-0027
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… 3
A. What is a GPS?
B. How does the GPS system work?
C. How GPS Technology is used to track an individual?
Cellphones ………………………………….………………….. 4
Vehicles ……………………………………….…………………. 5
A. Business …………………………………………………….……….… 6
B. Society ……………………………………………………….……….… 6
C. Law ……………………………………………….……………………… 7
III. Overview on the current Case Law on this issue ………………… 7-8
2
INTRODUCTION
Ten years ago the world was adjusting to the fact that people
could access information in the privacy of their own home from the
World Wide Web. Today, technology has taken society to another
plateau; people can be tracked wherever they go from their cell
phone or car. These devices work in real time and can provide an
interested party with a wealth of information about the private daily
activities of every person. Just as the introduction of the Internet
created new legal and policy issues, GPS tracking implicates a new
set of privacy concerns. It is used in our vehicles and cell phones to
help us get around – especially handy when we are lost, or looking
for an address. Like cell phones and email, the technology has
become a part of our lives that we probably wouldn't even know how
to live without. The advent of Global Positioning System tracking
devices has been a boon to law enforcement, making it easier and
safer, for example, for agents to link drug dealers to kingpins.
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I. GPS Technology and Legislation
A. What is a “GPS?”
• Cell Phones
GPS-equipped cell phones are now being used for a variety of
purposes, from worried parents tracking the whereabouts of their
children to suspicious employers monitoring the location of their
workers. Mobile Phone Tracker applications are being used to track
mobile phones. Using this kind of application, variety of tracking
systems that are ideal for personal tracking, child tracking, tracking
criminal offenders, elderly tracking or business use like vehicle
tracking, fleet management, and truck tracking which will not only
help navigate but will also allow others to track your location.
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1
GPS Overview, Gps.gov (April 12, 2012), http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/
(last visited Works Cited: June 6, 2012).
4
Many people are worried about the loss of privacy that may
come with this technology. Issues that haven't yet been solved
include whether or not the government should have access to this
network.2 Should law enforcement agencies or the military be
allowed to track people by their cellular phones, or should they be
forced to get a court order like they currently do with wiretaps? This
is a question that has been argued about in court and has not yet
been answered. These privacy issues need to be solved soon since
GPS in cellular phones has already become very popular in our lives.3
• Vehicles
GPS is utilized for a variety of applications in our personal cars.
The most obvious is the navigation system. GPS system can only
guide you to your destination if you have the coordinates for where
you're going. Point a and point b are not connected in a straight line,
so you must follow the road system to reach your destination.4 This
system is usually used in conjunction with a computer in the vehicle.
The computer has road maps stored in its system as well as GPS
coordinates. The user simply tells the computer where he or she
would like to go. The computer uses the GPS to determine the users
current location and the coordinates of the destination. It will then
pull up the appropriate maps and highlight the correct route. Newer
systems even give the user turn by turn audio directions. GPS is very
useful in emergency situations.5 If your car is stolen, the GPS receiver
that is mounted on your vehicle can be used to tell its location and
aid law enforcement in its recovery. GPS can be used to locate your
vehicle.
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2
Richard B. Langley, In Simple Terms, How Does GPS Work?, available at http://
gge.unb.ca/Resources/HowDoesGPSWork.html (last modified Mar. 27, 2003).
3
Tracking Employees Using Technology, Neslon Adrian Blish and Sharon P. Stiller.
ACC Docket (July/August 2009).
4
Aaron Reneger, Satellite Tracking and The Right to Privacy, 53 Hastings L.J. 549
(Jan. 2002).
5
Daniel R. Sovocool, GPS Update: The FCC Sets the Table for GPS Location
Technology in Wireless Phones, available at http://www.thelenreid.com/articles/
article/art_57_idx.htm (last visited July 19, 2004).
5
II. The Social Impact of GPS Technology
A. Business
B. Society
GPS has made a huge impact in our society. It has changed the
way people communicate and live. GPS has made our environment a
more safer and easier place to live. GPS is being used to help parents
find and keep track of their children and is being installed as a
location device in cars and in cell phones to assist people in mapping
and directions. GPS technology can be used to locate and keep track
of dangerous criminals, helping to guard against escaped or missing
dangerous offenders. GPS technology in your cell phone or car can
make it easier to call for help since you can help emergency teams
and rescuers know exactly where you are, even if your position
changes between the time you call and the time help arrives. GPS
devices on pet collars can help you track pets if they are stolen or
lost. These are just some of the main things that GPS has added to
our society and everyday lives.
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6
Richard B. Langley, In Simple Terms, How Does GPS Work?, available at http://
gge.unb.ca/Resources/HowDoesGPSWork.html (last modified Mar. 27, 2003).
6
C. Law
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7
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for
any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall
issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after
examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he
may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the
persons or things to be seized.
8
565 U. S. ____, 23 January 2012.
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The US Court said that the Fourth Amendment protects the
“right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”9 The US
Court found that the act of the government in attaching the GPS
device on the vehicle was a physical intrusion on an “effect” which is
the Jeep, and that its purpose of obtaining information from the
device constituted a “search.”10
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9
Location Privacy Protection Act of 2001, S. 1164, 107th Cong. (1999).
10
Common-law trespassory test.
11
G.R. No. L-20387, January 31, 1968.
12
381 U. S. 479, 484 (1965).
13
G.R. No. 135882, June 27, 2001.
14
PCGG vs. Richard Gordon, G.R. No. 174318, October 17, 2006.
15
G.R. No. 188611, June 16, 2010.
8
Considering that Article III, Section 2 of the Bill of Rights was
taken from the 1935 Philippine Constitution, which in turn was
derived from the Fourth Amendment of the United States
Constitution, the Philippine Court has always looked into the
jurisprudential doctrines laid down by the US Court for guidance.
Attaching a GPS to a car isn't the only way the government can
track people's movements. In fact, everyone with a cell phone is
already carrying a device that the government can use to track his or
her location. As a result, the principle at stake in this case may well
shape our privacy rights in the years and decades to come.
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16
565 U. S. ____, 23 January 2012.
17
381 U. S. 479, 484 (1965).
9
Cell phone tracking can reveal our private associations and
relationships with one another. The government could make note of
whenever people being tracked crossed path or spent time together,
showing who our friends, associates and lovers are.
Will the Philippine Court still resolve the case in the same way if
the GPS device was embedded in the person’s smartphone or tablet
and the police used the telephone company’s data on the GPS to
track the whereabouts of the subscriber?
10
But this begs the question whether the subscriber expected the
government to find out his or her location the moment the mobile
device is switched on.
VI. Conclusion
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