Google Earth Used To Find Unlicensed Pools

[Tom Sawyer]

Two types of outside space have different constitutional protections...

Curtilage...
Outside space you can have an expectation of privacy in... ie. your fenced in backyard... other spaces immediately around your dwelling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtilage

Have you read this article regarding curtilage?  http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599201315000

Wow... the "Open Field's Doctrine" was because of marijuana also...

To rid ourselves of the "evil weed" we destroyed what remaining rights we had. It's true, marijuana makes people crazy...

[Pat McCotter]

They may not need to sneak the unit onto your vehicle.

Mileage-Based Road Tax Gets Pumped

May 1, 2009

A congressional commission is recommending using GPS to tax drivers based on distance traveled, instead of taxing the gas drivers buy. The method, already tested in Oregon, is also being considered by half a dozen states.

Looking Ahead. As the public adopts alternative energy vehicles, less gas will be consumed, and that means lower tax revenues for states and less money for road maintenance. "As society changes, technology changes. We need to change the way we look at infrastructure and how we pay for it," said Hawaii Department of Transportation Director Brennon Morioka. Hawaii may launch a pilot project as part of a highway modernization bill now in its state legislature.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pitched the idea, which was quickly shot down by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs in a February 20 news conference. "It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," the president's press secretary said.

But a few days later, a special commission created by Congress endorsed the idea. The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission warned in a report that if government fails to find a new way to raise money, "we will suffer grim consequences in the future: unimaginable levels of congestion, reduced safety, costlier goods and services, an eroded quality of life, and diminished economic competitiveness as a nation." The commission said the current 18.4 cents a gallon gas tax and 24.4 cents a gallon diesel tax are not raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of highway, bridge, and transit projects.

The report, Paying Our Way: A New Framework for Transportation Finance, recommends moving to a mileage tax, and specifically cites using GPS technology in vehicles to track miles driven and compute tax owed. The amount could be adjusted to charge more for travel during peak traffic hours.

The commission said the transition to a national system would take about 10 years.

Opposition. Opponents say commuters who travel long distances to work every day would unfairly receive the brunt of the tax. Others cite reduced incentive to buy alternative-energy cars, and privacy concerns, because the new tax method may require a GPS to be installed in each automobile. A non-GPS method being discussed in some states is to have the government measure odometer readings to calculate miles traveled.

But in Oregon's 2006 test of the mileage tax, the installed GPS devices didn't transmit a signal. When drivers pulled into service stations, the pump downloaded the number of miles driven, charged the driver a fee based on the distance, and reduced the gas tax they would have paid by the amount of the user fee.

In January Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski asked the state legislature to allocate $10 million to continue the experiment. "It's probably eight to 10 years away," said Anna Richter-Taylor, Kulongoski's spokeswoman. "But gas-tax revenues are not sustainable so he wants to be sure that when we do face that cliff, we don't fall off."The mileage tax is also being considered by Massachusetts, Idaho, Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona.

Commission member Geoffrey Yarema told the Associated Press that the commission examined more than 40 types of funding schemes before arriving at a consensus that a mileage-based system makes the most sense, and he isn't discouraged by the White House's rejection of a mileage-based tax.

"I say let's wait and see," Yarema said. "We're all looking for solutions and I'm sure the Obama administration will be looking for solutions as well."

[Pat McCotter]

If it is OK to look in your backyard from a helicopter, drone or satellite then why is it not
OK to just walk into your backyard and look at what is there?

[Tom Sawyer]

If it is OK to look in your backyard from a helicopter, drone or satellite then why is it not
OK to just walk into your backyard and look at what is there?

Courts regularly throw out cases for example of pot growers that helicopters spotted plants within curtilage... although as one guy told me, even if you get off, the lawyer is the punishment... ie 10's of thousands owed. That's why the war goes on... too many people getting rich off it.

[KBCraig]

If it is OK to look in your backyard from a helicopter, drone or satellite then why is it not
OK to just walk into your backyard and look at what is there?

Courts regularly throw out cases for example of pot growers that helicopters spotted plants within curtilage... although as one guy told me, even if you get off, the lawyer is the punishment... ie 10's of thousands owed. That's why the war goes on... too many people getting rich off it.

The controlling case is Kyllow v. United States, where a conviction for growing marijuana was overturned because police used a thermal imaging device to "penetrate" the walls of a home and thus search it, for the purposes of the 4th Amendment.

And yes, false charges are regularly leveled as a way to punish people who aren't breaking any law at all. "Contempt of cop", "You might beat the rap but you can't beat the ride", etc., ec.