A New Jersey appellate court panel ruled that using GPS to track a cheating spouse was not invasion of privacy.
There is a criminal case currently being considered by the Delaware Supreme Court on the use of GPS tracking that we have been following. Friday's ruling comes from just up the road in Gloucester County, New Jersey based on the battle of a divorcing couple.
The plaintiff, who was a law enforcement officer, initially sued his wife for invasion of privacy as well as a private investigator hired by his now ex-wife. The wife put a GPS tracking device in the glove compartment of vehicle which they both owned but was primarily driven by husband. The information from the GPS tracking device was used by the private investigator to catch the cheating husband with another woman.
The court ruled against the plaintiff in this case, the cheating husband, stating that the use of GPS tracking in this case was not an invasion of privacy.
A few lines from the 16 page ruling released from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Gloucester County:
Everything described in this report occurred on public roadways and in plain view of the public. There is nothing in this report that could support an inference that any surveillance of plaintiff extended into private or secluded locations that were out of public view and in which plaintiff had a legitimate expectation of privacy.
There is nothing to establish that any possible invasion of plaintiff's privacy and seclusion ever occurred. Such a finding would require that he was in a location where he had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The lesson to be learned from modern technology, don't cheat on your spouse or your government, they will catch you eventually.
Be careful out there, true privacy is becoming more difficult in the world. Perhaps we should all brush up on the concept of big brother?
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