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Student Who Found GPS Device On His Car Due To Reddit Comment Sues The FBI

Privacy

from the don't-mess-with-reddit dept

Fri, Mar 4th 2011 01:46pm -

Last fall, we wrote about the bizarre situation of Yasir Afifi, a student here in California who discovered a GPS tracking device on his car during an oil change, and then posted photos of the device on Reddit. Following that, the FBI showed up at his house demanding the tracking device back. It later turned out that the key reason behind tracking him was a random comment on Reddit that — if read in context — did not represent any kind of threat or warning that should have resulted in FBI surveillance. But, of course, since there’s almost no oversight on who the FBI gets to spy on, it didn’t care and just started tracking Afifi.

Afifi has now sued the government over the tracking action, claiming that it was a violation of his civil rights. There are some differences of opinion in the courts over whether or not the government needs a warrant to place GPS devices on cars, which provides some background for this case. There’s a bit of a circuit split on that right now, with the government (obviously) insisting that no warrant is needed. Part of the goal of this lawsuit appears to be to get another ruling on this issue to push it forward. Given the history on this subject, I would guess that Afifi will likely lose the lawsuit, but the possibility that it actually does go in his favor makes the case worth paying attention to.

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Comments on “Student Who Found GPS Device On His Car Due To Reddit Comment Sues The FBI”

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67 Comments
Chargone (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

well, skipping the execution part you can get yourself in legal hot water in NZ by posting cryptographic data, which you created yourself, to yourself… our legal system seems to have inherited Britain’s fun habit of just quietly Forgetting about laws which are no longer relevant, rather than repealing them, which sometimes leads to some rather bizzare complications.

also, your car is a cow.
(legal logic regarding wheel clamps and car towing ends up falling back on some bit of English common law about what happens when your cow wanders into your neighbour’s guarden. )

Anonymous Coward says:

He likely would lose the lawsuit because the authorities were not knowingly breaking the law. The legality of the GPS tracker without warrant is in the grey area, there are not any rulings on it either way. He would first have to prove that the device was against the law, and then also show damage. It’s not a winning hand, I don’t think.

It is margin. What I have heard is that this sort of tracking device used privately (say to track a rental car) is legal.

DH's Love Child (profile) says:

Re: Re:

So, let me get this straight, if the gubment ‘unknowingly’ breaks the law it’s ok, but if we mere plebes do so, ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse’?

Actually that sounds about right now that I read it. Those 3 letter initial agencies shouldn’t have to be bothered by such annoying things as laws and the constitution…

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

No, the government acts in “good faith” based on legal opinion, in an area of the law that is not clearly defined. At best, this guy could get a ruling that says “they aren’t allowed to do it”, but it would be much harder to claim that the government acted in bad faith or specifically broke the law.

It isn’t “ignorance of the law”, it’s the old “black hole in the law” that makes this neither legal or illegal. The same following could be done with unmarked police cars, helicopters, security cameras, and such. Is it such a big jump to use technology to achieve the same results?

dbkliv says:

Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Mar 4th, 2011 @ 2:43pm

I think you’ve mixed up two similar aspects of the story. First, the student is alleging a harm: that his civil liberties were infringed by the government. Second, the placing of GPS trackers on a vehicle is currently a gray issue in the courts: nobody is really all that sure whether a warrant is needed for that action.

You’re saying that first the student needs to prove the FBI agents knowingly broke a law, then prove damage. This isn’t how civil liberties infringement cases go though.

The question at its core is this: does an American resident’s reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment include the history of his movements througout a day?

If the courts agree that this is covered by the reasonable expectation clause, then his civil rights will have been infringed, and his suit will have been successful. And the inverse ourtcome follows.

There’s no mens rea required here. The agents aren’t being accused of breaking a law; they’re accused of violating the student’s civil rights.

As for the rental cars: the tracking systems are written into the rental contract. By notifying the renter of the potential presence of tracking an monitoring devices, the rental agencies unset the expectation to privacy.

The fact that the rental agencies notify renters of the tracking devices actually strengthens the student’s claim of infringement.

dbkliv says:

Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Mar 4th, 2011 @ 2:43pm

I think you’ve mixed up two similar aspects of the story. First, the student is alleging a harm: that his civil liberties were infringed by the government. Second, the placing of GPS trackers on a vehicle is currently a gray issue in the courts: nobody is really all that sure whether a warrant is needed for that action.

You’re saying that first the student needs to prove the FBI agents knowingly broke a law, then prove damage. This isn’t how civil liberties infringement cases go though.

The question at its core is this: does an American resident’s reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment include the history of his movements througout a day?

If the courts agree that this is covered by the reasonable expectation clause, then his civil rights will have been infringed, and his suit will have been successful. And the inverse ourtcome follows.

There’s no mens rea required here. The agents aren’t being accused of breaking a law; they’re accused of violating the student’s civil rights.

As for the rental cars: the tracking systems are written into the rental contract. By notifying the renter of the potential presence of tracking an monitoring devices, the rental agencies unset the expectation to privacy.

The fact that the rental agencies notify renters of the tracking devices actually strengthens the student’s claim of infringement.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

He’ll get $200 and a deportation.

According to the article, he was born in the US. Not sure where they will deport him to since he is a citizen of the US.

Then again, with extraordinary rendition and other unethical/illegal actions done in the past, I suspect him being born in the US and a citizen, they probably can still send him to Mexico like they did with Mark Lyttle.

Anonymous Coward says:

Basically, it’s easier and more fun to track people writing comments on the web than it is to track criminals, terrorists or others who might shoot back. The FBI has often been the goon squad of corrupt politicians (mostly Republican) and payola paying industrialists.
I say, opt out. The FBI doesn’t work for us. We don’t help them. It’s fair.

Rekrul says:

With all the discussion about what’s legal for the FBI in this incident, I’d be curious to know what’s considered legal for the person who finds an unknown device attached to their car.

If you have no idea what it is or how it got there, do you have any legal obligation to find out or to keep it safe? Is there any law against tampering with or disposing of an unknown device, or unknown origin, that you happen to find attached to your vehicle?

Cybertelecom (user link) says:

But There is a First Amendment Problem

There is one legal issue about whether a warrant is needed for a tracking device.

There is another legal issue about whether the government can initiate an investigation of you based on innocuous comments. The government cannot exercise its police authority to simply chill speech it finds disagreeable. It cannot initiate a review of your taxes. It cannot check to see if your parking tickets are all paid. And it cannot attach GPS devices to your car simply based on disagreeable speech.

While a warrant may or may not be needed for an exercise of police authority, it does not mean that the authority gets to be exercised any way the polices wants. There are other constitutional concerns.

Angry Citizen says:

Re:

Are you directly on their payroll or are you just suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?

The government has been infiltrated by fascists and they are making war on the US Constitution – that is the very definition of Treason.

It’s not a ‘gray’ area. The US Constitution says that even if somebody is found guilty they can’t be tortured.

These people are scum and should be deported to North Korea where they can fit in.

Anonymous Coward says:

Classic

Actually profiling is pretty goddamn stupid. Despite any illusions of efficiency doing so creates an exploitable gap in your security. If you give them something to watch it means free stealth for those who don’t fit the profile. Barring feelings of validation of bigotry the only “feature” is that it leaves feelings of security without inconvenience because you’re not “those people”.

One hilariously karmic example of profiling backfiring: retail. A store watches closely and practically stalks any black customers that enter. Meanwhile the actual shoplifters have figured it out, bring a black friend as a decoy and walk right out of the store with expensive items.

Bonus to the stupidity: they’re focusing on the wrong source of theft. The biggest source of retail shrinkage comes from the employees.

Anonymous Coward says:

Response to: Anonymous Coward on Mar 4th, 2011 @ 2:43pm

Some rental places have a no gps policy as a feature. They don’t advertise it in big letters outside the building but they will tell you if asked. Yes, even in the US (as a lot of Canadians do, especially those living close to the border, we have a passport-driving license to be able to roll into the US. I’ve been there often. In fact a small town close to my hometown is cut in half by the border, there’s lines inside the library and lanes on either side of the road saying USA and CANADA on the other.

Ovi (user link) says:

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saki789 (profile) says:

Why should it be unconstitutional for the FBI to use technology

I doubt he has a case, but following/watching is passive observation and the tracker manipulates private property, and I believe the latter is more severe. What if they installed a laser tripwire, without a warrant, across someone’s property to measure when they come and go? If both endpoints are on public property, it seems reasonable. It’s just a passive observation from public property. But installing it right on their doorstep? Inside the house’s threshold? Or on every doorway in the house? In that progression, there’s clearly a point where it is no longer constitutional without a warrant. Using an equivalence with the practical result – determining when people come and go – suggests it’s OK to install a device on the doorstep, since no extra bits of information are gleaned as opposed to watching from the street. But actually entering property to make modifications is no longer passive, which is where I take issue. After all, I can’t paint someone else’s garage more tastefully, no matter how ugly it is! I believe the same threshold should apply to your personal car, even though I doubt it does.

If technology makes passive observation efficient, then that’s great. But planting a tracking device on the car is no longer passive observation.

https://digitalgreenfox.com/best-gps-tracker-for-cheating-spouse/

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