Warrantless GPS-ing

[PTK]

If I found all that on my car, I would probably call the bomb squad 

And here in Montana, there's a fair chance they'd take it off your car and blow it up.


...or just blow your car up.

AZRedhawk44,

Not C-Cells ("The device is powered by four lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) D cell batteries."), yes magnetized, the box is a transponder/transmitter that broadcasts via RF the GPS data to anyone caring to receive it.

[CNYCacher]

So the cylinder is a battery compartment (C-cells?) and the wire plugs into the right end.  Base is magnetized for rapid attachment.  Little grey box is GPS receiver, which feeds its data into the black box that transmits.  Black box is modified G3 cell phone or data modem?  Or a more proprietary interface for a tail car?

Based on my experience with GPS devices, I think the grey box to be a GPS antenna.  I think the entire works are inside the black box.

[PTK]

Sorry, yes, gray box is antenna, black box is the transponder/transmitter for RF.

[TechMan]

The magnets are pretty powerful themselves:

The components of the system are all attached to the tracked vehicle with extremely powerful magnets. Some were so stubbornly attached that they ripped out of the mounting brackets to forever remain stuck on the undercarriage of the host vehicle.

According to the battery manufacturer's website:

Lithium-thionyl chloride cells have a high energy density, partly because of their high nominal voltage of 3.6 V. Bobbin versions can reach 1220 Wh/L and 760 Wh/kg, for a capacity of 18.5 Ah at 3.6 V in D format. Because self-discharge is extremely low (less than 1% per year), this kind of cell can support long storage periods and achieve a service life of 10 to 20 years.

The GPS signal processor module:

The module providing the GPS signal processing on this device is a µ-blox GPS-MS1 that's sort of ancient in the realm of modern electronics.

It was released June 29, 1999!

It features an astonishing 0.125 MB of SRAM and 1 MB of flash memory.

Read the article....very interesting.  http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/05/gps-gallery/?pid=89&viewall=true

[roo_ster]

Open up PO boxes in different placed around the country and ship it to them via various carriers and have it shipped back.  Or maybe between them. 

Fun with electronics!

[KD5NRH]

Open up PO boxes in different placed around the country and ship it to them via various carriers and have it shipped back.

Got any friends in the oil or transportation industry?  It would be entertaining to put it on a cargo ship or tanker.

[MechAg94]

I think just attaching it to a cross town metro bus would work best.  The police can watch it go round and round the city on its routes.  Maybe a garbage truck. 

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Got any friends in the oil or transportation industry?  It would be entertaining to put it on a cargo ship or tanker.

Ship it to a Nigerian prince.

[erictank]

Torn between the idea of reducing such a device (violently) to scraps of its component parts or disposing of it in trash or recycling ("Sir, subject's vehicle has been at 4618 West Ox Rd for 2 weeks now...").  I like the idea of getting it attached to a cop car or a local politician's ("Sir, subject's car is at the office of Rep. Gerry Connelly..."), but I know I wouldn't be capable of doing so without getting caught.

How this could even be BRIEFLY CONSIDERED to be legal is beyond me.

[MicroBalrog]

Since - in the United States - it is legal for a police officer to simply tail a person in public (this has always been strange to me) without limitation, the courts now seem to believe that any information that could have potentially been collated by having a person followed in public, is legal for police to collate.

Of course, there is a simple way to test this logic:

Suppose there would be enough police officers to tail every single American as they go through their daily rounds to work, college, night clubs, etc. Suppose further that this policy were enacted. Would the result be a free society?

[Tallpine]

Suppose there would be enough police officers to tail every single American as they go through their daily rounds to work, college, night clubs, etc. Suppose further that this policy were enacted. Would the result be a free society?

So all they have to do is require that your new GPS equipped car report its location constantly to a govt accessible real time data base.

Just punch in "Joe Subject" and see where he's at right at this moment, or where he's been.

You don't have anything to hide, do you