New York – A midlevel New York court has upheld the state’s use of a tracking device on an employee’s private car to investigate whether he was skipping work and falsifying time sheets.
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In a ruling Wednesday, the Appellate Division panel split over whether that tracking violated Michael Cunningham’s constitutional privacy rights.
The three-judge majority says the state Labor Department, where Cunningham was director of staff and organizational development for 20 years and fired last year, had reasonable grounds since Cunningham was disciplined previously for false time records and officials suspected it was continuing.
They also conclude using the device for a month was reasonable.
Two judges say the global positioning system use was warranted at first, but tracking the family car for a month was too broad and intrusive.
No reason to worry about losing your privacy. You’ve already lost it.
So the USA founding fathers meant the following.
Carrying a fire arm = in your own home!
Privacy = in your own home!
Freedom of speech = in your home?
Wow, interesting case. I have not yet read the particulars of this case, but a case involving GPS tracking was argued to the Supreme Court last week and that decision should be out in a few months. As far as the NYS employee case is concerned, the article does not indicate if he was using his personal car in the scope of his employment. That the Court decision was a split one shows how difficult this issue is.
Obviously there is no “constitutional” right to privacy vis-a-vis a private company, only vis-a-vis the government. On the other hand, isn’t it trespassing to place something on someone’s personal property without permission?