Today everybody carries GPS devices in their phones (and tablets), but few people consider that our personal privacy may be compromised as a result. In November the US Supreme Court will hear argument (US v. Jones) as to whether the drug suspect’s Constitutional right to privacy was violated since a GPS device was attached to his vehicle without a warrant. As a matter of fact, Roger L. Easton, the principle inventor of GPS technology, has joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation to urge the Supreme Court to require warrants before using GPS tracking systems.
GPS data is retained by phone service providers and may become a larger part of litigation (and eDiscovery) which will allow parties in litigation to track parties’ location at specific times.
Our personal privacy may be a stake if the Supreme Court writes a broad opinion about how much personal privacy we can expect from GPS data since our phones (and tablets) contain GPS devices.