ArsTechnica – by David Kravets
The Justice Department on Tuesday withdrew its appeal of a lower court’s December ruling that said it was illegal for police to attach a webcam to a utility pole and spy on a suspected drug dealer’s house in rural Washington state for six weeks.
The government did not comment on its decision to drop the appeal in a brief filing to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The video camera operated 24 hours a day. Footage was synced to the computer of a Kennewick Police Department detective who could operate the camera from afar via its pan-and-zoom capabilities.
The government told (PDF) a federal judge last year that it had the right to deploy the webcam without a court warrant because the device was on the public’s right-of-way and was akin to a cop’s observations from the street. The judge in the case, US District Judge Edward Shea, said the Fourth Amendment required that the police needed a warrant to spy on defendant Leonel Vargas.
“The American people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the activities occurring in and around the front yard of their homes particularly where the home is located in a very rural, isolated setting,” the judge ruled.
When the authorities raided Vargas’ residence in 2013, the camera was panned away from the house and on sagebrush.
“We’re pleased the DOJ realized it was unwise to pursue the appeal,” Hanni Fakhoury, an attorney on the case with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in an e-mail to Ars. “Prolonged warrantless video surveillance of the exterior of a person’s home violates the Fourth Amendment as the District Court correctly found.”