The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling next spring in United States v. Jones involving police warrantless use of a GPS tracking device could have wide ranging effect on the rights to association and free speech, writes Gene Policinski for the First Amendment Center.
“The freedom to associate with others of similar and perhaps unpopular views, and to share controversial political or social concepts, fuels the marketplace of ideas that is essential to a democratic republic. It’s no stretch to see that such meetings and discussions are chilled by the fear that an unbridled “Big Brother” may be watching and recording our every move, without the need to convince a judge that such surveillance is permitted under the law,” writes Policinski.
From a commentary for the First Amendment Center, November 11, 2011, by Gene Policinski.