Anonymity is Still an Issue

The issue of anonymity still haunts people. This is especially true for those who are placed under watch. This time, the scope is expanded to include the anonymity of people who are in public places. The use of GPS devices in surveillance has triggered a controversy as to its legality. This resulted in the hearing of arguments by the U.S. Supreme Court to look into the possibility of expanding the scope of privacy to include those people in public places.

One of the cases that involved the use of a GPS device without warrant was that of a suspected drug dealer. The police, after placing the device in his car, tracked his movements for one month. Using the data collected, he was convicted of conspiring to sell cocaine. However, this is a possible case of unreasonable search due to the absence of a valid warrant. There is the question of whether the police action constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

If the Court upholds the decision that such types of searches are legal, then Americans should be expecting an end to their anonymity. Needless to say, people have enjoyed the privilege of, or rather the right to, privacy for quite a while. Now, people can be placed under surveillance as others would see fit, at any time. There is an argument going that states that if a person is in a public place, he is no longer considered “private”. The use of available tracking technology is not directed to curtail privacy, but to make surveillance easier.