Document Type
Article
Abstract
GPS technology is not new, but in the recent past, it has become so widespread that it now affects most everyone’s lives. The term “GPS” refers to a “global positioning system,” by which a GPS tracking device communicates through satellites to reveal its precise location. Since GPS units are now mandatorily built into all cellular telephones, service providers can locate their users wherever they may be, if required to do so.
Yet, because of the intimate, locational nature of GPS data, these technologies have engendered privacy questions which beg closer examination, particularly due to the potential law enforcement (or other government) exploitation of GPS locational information. The present commentary will address whether individuals have an expectation of privacy in the GPS information that their cellular telephones transmit. With this objective in view, this Article focuses particularly on the Florida Constitution’s two privacy provisions, sections 12 and 23 of article I.
The first portion of this Article will therefore closely examine the rules, uses, and potential applications of sections 12 and 23 alone, without regard to GPS technology. This initial discussion will establish the framework for the subsequent hypothetical applications of sections 12 and 23 jurisprudence to cellular telephone communications, contentless locational technology, and finally, to GPS itself. By considering the application of sections 12 and 23 to their broad range of technology, this Article contextualizes the GPS privacy questions that the constitutional provisions potentially protect.
Since there is no Florida case law directly addressing the question of GPS-cellular devices under sections 12 and 23, the following analysis depends partially on legal predictions. The case law related to this subject matter, albeit peripherally, suggests the Florida courts’ future position on GPS privacy and serves as a predictor of future legal reasoning.
In order to arrive at predictive analysis, this Article begins by elaborating the constitutional privacy framework for article I, sections 12 and 23 of the Florida Constitution.
Recommended Citation
Peter Caldwell,
GPS Technology in Cellular Telephones: Does Florida's Constitutional Privacy protect Against Electronic Locating Devices?,
11 J. Tech. L. & Pol'y
(2006).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/jtlp/vol11/iss1/3