7/12/2011
New Jersey: Court Approves Private GPS SpyingAppellate court in New Jersey sees no issue with private use of GPS devices to secretly track motorists.

Kenneth Villanova argued that the incident violated privacy statutes. He added a privacy violation claim against his wife during divorce proceedings but had to file the present case separately against the private investigator who followed him. State law forbids intrusion into private places.
"One who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person," the appellate division wrote in a 1989 case summarizing the statute.
Attorneys for the private investigators countered that Villanova was tracked on public roads and had no expectation of privacy. Villanova had no tangible proof that he drove in any secluded location, which the court saw as the only place one's privacy could be invaded.
"We find plaintiff's arguments unpersuasive," Judge Joseph F. Lisa wrote. "We hold that the placement of a GPS device in plaintiff's vehicle without his knowledge, but in the absence of evidence that he drove the vehicle into a private or secluded location that was out of public view and in which he had a legitimate expectation of privacy, does not constitute the tort of invasion of privacy."
The court found that it made no difference whether Villanova's movements were tracked for forty minutes or forty days in the eyes of the law.
A copy of the decision is available in a 70k PDF file at the source link below.