News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars by markstansbury on Friday August 27, 2010 @12:25PM (#1639273)
Actually, the right to privacy has nothing to do with whether a law is just or unjust. I think we'll see an element of that creep into the law as they very concept of privacy erodes. But the basic idea behind privacy in the Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure context is that police ought to be subject to oversight (by the courts) so that they don't become a menace.

Incidentally, the problem with search-and-seizure jurisprudence is that every time the Supreme Court hears a case on the subject the defendant IS guilty--the debate is over whether the evidence of guilt is admissible in court. That makes it hard for the Court to turn a blind eye so they tend to expand the law in favor of the police every time they get a new case. The alternative is to free a known criminal. It takes guts to hold police to a principle when the immediate result is to free a criminal.

Re:Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars by nimai on Friday August 27, 2010 @12:37PM (#1639308)
This is exactly what I mean when I say the right to privacy is obsolete - by itself, it's no longer capable of protecting the freedoms it was originally intended to preserve. We need something better.
Re:Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars by tptacek on Friday August 27, 2010 @05:58PM (#1640430)
What right to privacy? Privacy is a very simple word. It occurs nowhere in the Constitution.
Re:Court allows agents to secretly put GPS trackers on cars by markstansbury on Wednesday September 01, 2010 @05:20PM (#1654318)
It may appear nowhere in the constitution, but that doesn't mean it isn't constitutionally protected.

The substantive due process protections of the 14th Amendment extend heightened protection to a number of rights. Privacy is one of them. Marriage is another. There are plenty more.

In addition the 4th Amendment has its own privacy implications.