Very interesting...
Finally, after almost 30 years, geofencing got taken to the 5th Circuit on appeal!
In a major decision on Friday, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that geofence warrants are “categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.” Closely following arguments EFF has made in a number of cases, the court found that geofence warrants constitute the sort of “general, exploratory rummaging” that the drafters of the Fourth Amendment intended to outlaw. EFF applauds this decision because it is essential that every person feels like they can simply take their cell phone out into the world without the fear that they might end up a criminal suspect because their location data was swept up in open-ended digital dragnet.
Full article HERE from the Electronic Freedom Foundation. If you want to read a .pdf of the actual verdict, go to the link in the article.
Here is the Oxford definition-
ge·o·fence
/ˈjēōˌfens/
noun
a virtual geographic boundary, defined by GPS or RFID technology, that enables software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area.
"they could put up a geofence around the building, meaning your phone disables itself when you enter it"
verb
create a virtual geographic boundary around (an area) by means of GPS or RFID technology, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves the area.
"the company has now geofenced the locations of 180,000 US schools"
An 'advertising' use of geofencing is HERE from Tech Target.
It is nice to see that 'somebody' believes the 4th Amendment is still valid and we have a a reasonable expectation of privacy, even if we have a cell phone with us!
We'd actually discussed this on our livestream last week, and yes, it was used to 'locate' folks to prosecute for Jan 6, 2020.
There are companies that 'sell' geofencing programs that can be used for any number of things, and just because you turn off your locating data, doesn't mean the phone isn't still being 'located' by the cell towers it is hitting.
It's just 'one' more way of tracking us, whether or not we want to be tracked... sigh
Now imagine what could happen if this was combined with 'social media' scores like China... Can we say 'Internal Passports'? I knew you could...
This ruling has me thinking 3 things:
1. It re-enforces my believe the govt is trying to outsource violations of the constitution to corporate partners. There needs to be a constitutional amendment that restricts corporations to abiding 100% to the constitution including the bill of rights.
2. Since Geofencing is violating the 4th amendment by creating an illegal search/seizure of your person, papers and property, then CBDC also violates the 4th amendment for its ability to restrict movement, snoop on your economic transactions and devalue your property (wealth and finances) on a whim. This should make Central Bank Digital Currency illegal.
3. Add to this the current investigation by the Texas AG against GM for basically spying, commoditizing personal data through illegal collection (violating the 4th amendment yet again) and selling it to all comers and the government... we really need to push back on all fronts and re-fortify through victorious lawsuits and penalties against those who violate that basic right that, until the internet age has violated this right worse than a victim of s*x trafficking.
If anyone reads this and has the connection to those high enough in power to start pushing this way, please spread the word. I don't think most people realize that without the 4th Amendment being buttressed, the 1st and 2nd can be undermined at will.
We must never forget, the elite and their psychophantic puppets view you as cattle. Slaves at best to be culled and controlled at their convenience.
Now if we can only get .gov follow the law.