Legality of GPS Tracking

According to the Legal Affairs website, the use of Global Positioning Software (GPS) chips in mobile devices, such as cell phones, is seen as a gray area that no federal statute governs in the U.S.

GPS

• Information from Garmin explains that GPS was originally designed by the U.S. Department of Defense for military purposes and later made available as a navigation tool for the general public. 24 satellites orbit the Earth, recording the time it takes for a signal to be sent to a device's GPS chip and returned to the satellite, to assess the device's location within a few meters.

Law Enforcement

• The Law website reports that courts in Oregon, New York and Washington have outlawed the use of GPS tracking devices in criminal investigations without the issuance of a warrant. Court rulings decided GPS tracking devices violated both state and U.S. constitutions.

Consumers

• Mobile devices, such as cell phones, are in 2010 equipped with GPS devices, which allows the location of the device to be tracked whenever the device is turned on. No federal rules govern the use of GPS information received from consumers. Businesses can, in principle, request information on the movements of a consumer and use the information however they see fit.