I See You, Part 2

It's weird to be completely right about something.

A while ago I wrote a post about law enforcement putting GPS devices on people's cars.

Exhibit A of where this is exactly headed:

Afifi, a business marketing student at Mission College in Santa Clara, discovered the device last Sunday when he took his car to a local garage for an oil change. When a mechanic at Ali's Auto Care raised his Ford Lincoln LS on hydraulic lifts, Afifi saw a wire sticking out near the right rear wheel and exhaust.

Garage owner Mazher Khan confirmed for Wired.com that he also saw it. A closer inspection showed it connected to a battery pack and transmitter, which were attached to the car with a magnet. Khan asked Afifi if he wanted the device removed and when Afifi said yes, Khan pulled it easily from the car's chassis.

"I wouldn't have noticed it if there wasn't a wire sticking out," Afifi said.

And here's something I predicted would happen concerning the device if it was found by the car's owner:

The agent who initially spoke with Afifi identified himself then as Vincent and told Afifi, "We're here to recover the device you found on your vehicle. It's federal property. It's an expensive piece, and we need it right now."

Afifi asked, "Are you the guys that put it there?" and the agent replied, "Yeah, I put it there." He told Afifi, "We're going to make this much more difficult for you if you don't cooperate."

Oh, how I wished he had refused to return it, or destroyed it, and made the government jump through legal hoops to get it, or better yet, try to prosecute him for destroying something abandoned in his car and attached to his private property.

This is bad. Very bad.