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Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

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Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#131

Post by cycomanic »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #96
oneplane wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when is a speed limit not a rule/law but a 'feeling' for a 'natural' speed? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. That essentially just escalates as everyones 'naturally' speeds up as a herd and then the whole point of having rules is moot.

Your common sense is wrong here. If you replace speed limits with "go a safe speed" then people don't go faster indefinitely, they'll find a speed that depends on road design. It doesn't escalate, and it's only notably faster than the speed limit when something has gone wrong with the road planning.

You obviously have not seen any of the many posted videos of some guys racing on public streets. Or are you saying the natural speed is a personal thing and everyone should be allowed to drive as fast as they personally feel comfortable with?

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#132

Post by cryptonector »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #39
mdoms wrote: post #31

Sounds like they're doing it with court-issued warrants with probable cause, so it's not as horrifying as the title makes it sound. It's "secret" to the suspect but it's not like the police department has taken it onto themselves to start a new cellphone tracking program.

> with probable cause It appears to be a lower standard; reasonable suspicion, perhaps.

In this case not even. In this case the police indicated that surveilling the subject would help them find the dealer, but they did not indicate that they suspected the subject of being the dealer or even knowing the dealer. Or at least that was my takeaway from one reading, and I'm not going back for a second. Even if I failed at reading comprehension and recall, the important thing is not what happened in this case, but what happens generally, and I bet judges and magistrates routinely issue these warrants with weak or no probable cause.

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#133

Post by cryptonector »

cycomanic wrote: post #126
cryptonector wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American highways for decades now have been designed for very high speeds, often 100mph or more, but the speed limits are set much much lower than that. Perhaps you are in Europe, where speed limits are generally just the natural speed for the roads they're posted on, and the roads are designed for natural speeds that are appropriate for their uses. Lucky you, if so. Here in the U.S., speed limits are set to give pol…

> Perhaps you are in Europe, where speed limits are generally just the natural speed for the roads they're posted on, and the roads are designed for natural speeds that are appropriate for their uses. Lucky you, if so. What are you talking about? With the exception of Germany all countries in Europe have maximum speed limits and I have no idea what you mean by natural speeds. Sweden which has highways that are in bet…

Your roads are often designed with natural speed control devices. Things like making them narrow, or lining them with trees, etc.

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#135

Post by somehnguy »

cryptonector wrote: post #109
xwdv wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I regularly drive at speeds in excess of 100mph when highways are empty and waze shows no police. What would be the fate of a person caught at those speeds in Virginia?

What if the police use Waze though? Last time I used it -and it was many years ago- it was clearly possible to use it to find speeders using it.

Can you explain how? Waze doesn't show your speed to others on the map.

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#136

Post by cryptonector »

Sohurt00 wrote: post #41

SCOTUS ruled in 2020 government agents can be sued for violating constitutional rights: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-71_qol1.pdf

> Held: RFRA’s express remedies provision permits litigants, when appro- priate, to obtain money damages against federal officials in their indi- vidual capacities. Pp. 3–9.

RFRA is an Act of Congress. Looking just the quote above, what SCOTUS found isn't a constitutional right but a statutory right, which means the statue can be amended or repealed, for example, and also that the statutory right is limited to whatever the statute says (or SCOTUS read in it). Without reading the rest of the opinion or the Act itself, I am probably justified in imagining that the right doesn't extend to violations of any constitutional rights so much as to violations of constitutional rights relevant to "religious freedom", which is mainly 1st Amendment rights, and maybe some others. I wonder, for example, whether RFRA would protect one's right to refuse a mandatory vaccine for religious reasons -- it might, though I don't have time to go read it (and related case-law) and find out (plus IANAL).

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#137

Post by warning26 »

woodruffw wrote: post #127
eganist wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving. The lesser of either 20 over the speed limit or any speed over ~80~ 85 miles an hour (thanks jmisavage) in Virginia is a misdemeanor, and at least one auto journalist has been jailed in Virginia. https://jalopnik.com/never-speed-in-virginia-lessons-from-my... It's also the only state to prohibit radar detectors.

I am someone who's extraordinarily sympathetic to journalists. But I don't think there's really any excuse for going 93 miles an hour on a country road marked for 55, as this author did. Should he have been sent to jail for it? I don't think so. But it's remarkable how acceptable that behavior seems to be.

Eh, I don't think speed limits really should exist in any context. If you want people to go slow, design the roads for slower driving, don't just impose arbitrary limits.

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#138

Post by Rufhfhs3747rhe7 »

Why are drug dealers still using an easily trackable phone number for communication? Why not a 3rd party messaging and voice app like Matrix/Element? Am I incorrect in assuming that local police would not be able to easily track it?

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#139

Post by cycomanic »

alistairSH wrote: post #75
logifail wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving (Full disclosure: have never driven in the USA), but without wishing to sound like a know-all, how about sticking to the speed limit? I've been dinged exactly twice for speeding since getting my licence almost exactly 30 years ago this month. No points in either case. It's not hard, honest. My wife might disagree, but her licence, he…

how about sticking to the speed limit? Because the speed limit in much of the US is below the “natural” speed of that roadway. We have highways where 80+mph is the norm, but the posted limited can be anywhere from 55-70mph (I-95 along the east coast). Driving the speed limit actually becomes dangerous. At this point, speed enforcement becomes a hit-or-miss affair, where you’re at the mercy of the police officer. Bett…

As someone who grew up and drove in Germany and being used to 160+km/h on highways moving to Australia made quite a positive change to my driving. In Germany outside of cities everyone drives at least 10%over the limit. You also constantly look where to overtake and be a little faster (and I was by no means a speeder or very fast driver) .

Australia on the other hand is very strikt about speed limits and even being 10% over can be a significant fine, so people gereally adhere much closer to the limits. Having to stick to the limit is actually liberating, I just stopped trying find some extra time by e. g. overtaking yet another car, and instead my driving experience is much more relaxed, I just put on cruise control and that's it. I seriously encourage you to think if you really need to be speeding, because the time you save is miniscule, while the driving is significantly more stressful.

Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones

#140

Post by worik »

warning26 wrote: post #137
woodruffw wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am someone who's extraordinarily sympathetic to journalists. But I don't think there's really any excuse for going 93 miles an hour on a country road marked for 55, as this author did. Should he have been sent to jail for it? I don't think so. But it's remarkable how acceptable that behavior seems to be.

Eh, I don't think speed limits really should exist in any context. If you want people to go slow, design the roads for slower driving, don't just impose arbitrary limits.

> Eh, I don't think speed limits really should exist in any context. If you want people to go slow, design the roads for slower driving, don't just impose arbitrary limits.

In the realm of ego orientated commenting, this one really stands out.

I do not want to put my life in your unregulated hands. I want you regulated to hell and back when you operate a tonne of steel at thirty metres per second heading in my general direction.

Actually: Can you, especially you warning26, catch a bus?

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