Privacy, Security, Technology Issues At Crossroads in GPS Tracking Case

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument Nov. 8 in a criminal case heralded as one of the most important to come before the justices in decades. The case calls upon the court to decide what limits the Fourth Amendment places on the government’s authority to use Global Positioning System devices to conduct continuous, long-term surveillance of vehicles’ movements (United States v. Jones, U.S., No. 10-1259).

Dozens of organizations, law professors, and others filed amicus briefs asking the court to use the case to establish general constitutional principles that will guide resolution of future clashes between society’s interests ...