How is it legal for the Republican Party of New York to hire a private investigator who then places a GPS device on a Democratic assemblyman’s car in an effort to ascertain if he really lives in the district he represents?
I understand that it’s a dastardly deed, but the way it is being reported is that there wasn’t any actual crime. So, in New York State it is legal for anyone to track me with a GPS device if they hire a private investigator to do the job?
“I don’t know what’s worse — attempting to mislead the court in a lawsuit claiming I don’t live here, or having some creep crawl under my family car to place a GPS tracking device to stalk us,” [Assemblyman Edward] Hennessey (D-Suffolk) said. “With this disturbing behavior, [Republican Dean] Murray has taken negative campaigning to a new low. The judge affirmed I live in the district, and now voters should question whether this man who has gone to such bizarre lengths to prove otherwise is really fit for public office.”
If there isn’t a law against putting tracking devices on people’s cars, there is something wrong with the law.
How about a lawyer explain this to me?
IANAL, but as far as I can tell, using a GPS device in such a manner is only illegal within the context of stalking (and only due to a law passed in 2014) or for police without a warrant. Outside of criminal law, using a GPS device to track someone may make you vulnerable to an invasion of privacy tort under civil law.
I should think so.
Yeah:
United States v. Jones (2012)
However:
But that clearly is a government functionary placing the GPS. If the police get a warrant, they can do a lot of things.
The question here is with a PRIVATE PARTY. Why is that legal?
Even if there’s no statutory prohibition for individuals to put a GPS device on someone else’s car (b/c nobody thought that people would do that), don’t private investigators have to be licensed and aren’t there specific regulations to what they may not do?
OTOH, let’s not forget that Cuomo challenged Teachout’s residency in NY to kick her off the ballot. So, it’s not as if such challenges are limited to the GOP.
Laws protecting privacy vary tremendously by state. I practice in Washington state, which has some of the strongest privacy protection laws in the country. One cannot, for instance, record a conversation, even if one is a party, without getting written or recorded authorization. In Arizona, where I used to live and practice, it was fine to record a conversation as long as you were a party.
I don’t know the law in New York so I can’t comment on the specifics. Was born and grew up in New York but escaped at my first opportunity.
It’s a well established legal precedent that Republicans (and WASP males in general) have much greater legal rights. You have to prove they acted against the greater WASP good for an offense to be judicially confirmed. This is only an issue because the offended party also had some WASP credentials..
Well, you’d need a NY lawyer to definitely answer your question, as the “law” of each state varies tremendously, especially for an issue like this.
But generally, state law has several sources: constitutional, statutory (the laws passed by its legislature), administrative (the regulations issued by state agencies) and finally, common law (the decisions issued by the state’s judges, basically “law” made by the judges).
NY’s constitution could have some right to privacy in it, but it’s unlikely. The NY legislature probably has not passed any specific statute regulating or criminalizing placement of GPS devices by private parties (because most legislatures are decades behind dealing with abusive new technologies), and without a specific statute giving them some regulatory power, it’s unlikely a state agency has passed any reg dealing specifically with this issue.
That leaves the common law. The judges of some states have recognized a “right” to privacy under common law principles, perhaps the NY courts have done so and perhaps it could be argued (in a civil lawsuit) to extend to placing a device on another’s car to monitor their every movement by auto. That would probably be the only way to establish the illegality of this GOoPers actions, as Randoid suggests above.
Of course the NY legislature should immediately pass a law specifically making this a crime, (as should all state assemblies). Why should such behavior be legal? Well, LIBERTY! and FREEDUM! (to abuse others), obviously….the usual “conservative” hypocrisy.
how is this not stalking?
I agree, intent is in the planting of said device.
Would it be O.K for an abuser to gps his victims car? Of course not, so why isn’t xyz private dick being charged? This day and age just following someone around is likely to get someone to ‘stand their ground’. I can hear the conversation, “I didn’t know he was a private dick, he was tampering with my vehicle”. That would be justification.
A GPS under a car could just as well be a bomb.
“So, in New York State it is legal for anyone to track me with a GPS device if they hire a private investigator to do the job?”
As long as the “investigator” does not equal the “government”, I am pretty sure they are good to go.
Like most all rights, privacy rights enshrined in the Constitution are primarily directed at prohibiting the the bad ole’ gubmint from infringing on them, not other individuals. So, you need a warrant if you are the police, to GPS track, but not so for a private investigator (which I think SCOTUS ruled on in recent years).
Since when did “residency” become a matter of habitation instead of unique declaration. If it becomes a matter of habitation, most of Congress would be ineligible for re-election. Same is true for legislatures that have long sessions.
The GOP is trying to make a political point but expose how far we’ve bought into the idea of a surveillance society–a political point that is a better defense for the assemblyman than getting picky about legalities.
I think it’s just another minor skirmish in the GOP’s attempt to innoculate Scott Brown’s carpetbagging through “both sides do it too” theater.
Just as legal as hiring Philip Marlow, Thomas Magnum, Mike Hammer or Jim Rockford to follow your spouse around to see what she is doing while you are at the bar.
Or for you to spy on how your kid is driving using one of those black box spy devices hooked to your car.
The sad state of affairs is that 27-35% of American will think the court ruling on residency means nothing and that this or just about anything is OK so long as it helps to defeat one more Democrat. They won’t find this distasteful and the GOP leadership knows it.
That’s what we are dealing with.
It could be tort interference with property, or perhaps an invasion of privacy, but it isn’t necessarily unconstitutional since the state or an agent of the state didn’t do it.
Kinda how someone CEO trashbag getting fired for saying stupid shit isn’t a violation of any “free speech” right, since most employers can fire an employee for saying stupid shit…or for anything at all depending on state law.