The law, in general, plays catch-up when it comes to its application to new technologies. This is even more so when dealing with evolving technologies such as electronic surveillance, which may impact an individual’s right to privacy.
The New York state Court of Appeals in 2009 in People v. Weaver[FOOTNOTE 1] held that the state Constitution, Article 1 §12 — the state analog to the Fourth Amendment — prohibits the government’s use of a global positioning system tracking device to monitor an automobile’s movements in the absence of exigent circumstances without a warrant requiring probable cause.
