

How to check your car for a GPS tracker - rflrob
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/05/check-your-car-for-a-gps-tracker/

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dmlorenzetti
_The engine compartment is going to be too hot, and the trunk is basically a
metal box, so you can still pretty much rule those out._

It's not clear why the engine compartment would be too hot. Most automobiles
have a slew of electronics stashed under the hood, and they work just fine,
across a huge temperature range.

Also not clear why the trunk is ruled out, for a system that is "spliced right
into your car's electrical system." Many cars have the actual radio stuck in
the trunk, and they work just fine, since the electrical system includes an
antenna.

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michaelcampbell
> Also not clear why the trunk is ruled out...

I think for the relatively inexpensive GPS' out there, they require LOS to the
satellites. That said, my phone gets a GPS lock _fairly_ reliably in my house,
so yeah, good question.

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oniTony
The article does not make any suggestions as to what to do if a tracker _is_
found on a car.

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michaelcampbell
I've wondered about that too. I am genuinely curious if there are laws that
concern removal of federal/state/local "equipment" from your car, or if "they"
would simply charge you with theft (of official property) or "tampering with
..." or somesuch thing if you were to find one, and reattach it to someone
else's car, or throw it out or something.

Especially so if you had not previously given any authorization to PUT such a
device on your car. I assume most rental agreements have some clause in them
if the rental agency has a tracker on their fleet, or if you're under some
sort of house arrest and that's part of the deal.

But covert surveillance? Can you be charged with screwing up the authorities
in that way?

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oniTony
At the very least, they will threaten to charge you with... whatever.

[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110303/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_track...](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110303/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants)

> the agents who showed up to collect the device were "hostile," threatening
> to charge Afifi if he didn't immediately cooperate and refusing his request
> to have a lawyer present.

~~~
michaelcampbell
Yes, I was thinking of this case specifically when I wrote. If memory serves,
that young man found the thing and asked on ... twitter? Facebook? some web
site "Is this a tracker?" then the feds got all snippity about getting the
device back.

I was thinking more of what happens if a person silently dislodges it... into
a lake. Or the neighbor's truck who happens to be travelling cross-country for
the next 3 months and says nothing to anyone about it. I wonder what the
_actual_ (as opposed to _legal_ ) ramifications would be.

