Beginning on July 1, 2023, it became illegal to place a GPS tracker on an individual’s vehicle without their knowledge. The change came about due to Assembly Bill (“AB”) 356, a bipartisan bill approved unanimously by the Nevada Legislature and signed into law by Governor Lombardo.
The United States District Court for the District of Nevada previously held, in Ringelberg v. Vanguard Integrity Prof’ls-Nev., Inc., No. 2:17-CV-01788-JAD-PAL (D. Nev. 2018), that using a GPS tracking device constitutes a civil invasion of privacy and that individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to their day-to-date movements in a vehicle.
Ringelberg was a case involving an attorney and two companied he worked or provided services for, as Ringelberg sued the companies for various employment-related claims. Ringelberg was hired as general counsel, and claimed he was promised stock and bonuses by the company. Ringelberg then, however, witnessed sexually harassing conduct by one of the company’s owners and confronted him. Shortly thereafter, Ringelberg was informed his services had been terminated.
Ringelberg and the company entered into a settlement agreement, but it remained contentious. He then discovered that the company had retained a private investigator to place a GPS tracker on his vehicle. Ringelberg sued for invasion of privacy, claiming the company surveilled Ringelberg, including a tracking device on his vehicle as well as using “long-range parabolic microphones” to listen in on his conversations. The private investigator was questioned and acknowledged he had placed a tracking device on Ringelberg’s vehicle at the direction of the company.
In his lawsuit, Ringelberg asserted a cause of action for invasion of privacy. Though GPS trackers were not illegal at the time, Nevada law allows for such a civil action. In Nevada, the tort of “invasion of privacy” includes four different torts:
- Unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another;
- Appropriation of the other’s name or likeness;
- Unreasonable publicity given to the other’s private life; or
- Publicity that unreasonably places the other in a false light before the public.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652A (1977).
The Court found that Ringelberg could proceed on his invasion of privacy claim because, citing a United States Supreme Court decision, monitoring a person’s movements has Fourth Amendment implications, and that Ringelberg had a reasonable expectation of privacy as to his daily movements in his vehicle.
The United States Supreme Court decision cited by the Court was U.S. v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012). In that case, the Court found that the Fourth Amendment dictates the Government installing a GPS tracking device on a vehicle constitutes a “search” within the meaning of the Amendment.
Before July 2023, Nevada law did not prohibit a person from installing a tracking device on another person’s vehicle. Two Nevada assemblywomen, Republican Jill Dickman and Democrat Selena La Rue Hatch, co-sponsored the bill and told the Legislature that the bill would benefit, “individuals experiencing domestic violence and/or abuse, victims of harassment, victims of stalking, all Nevadans.” They cited statistics showing that one in six women and one in 19 men have been stalked within their lifetime.
AB 356, which will be codified in Chapter 200 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, states that the crime of “unlawful installation of a mobile tracking device” is committed when a person “knowingly installs, conceals or otherwise places a mobile tracking device in or on the motor vehicle of another person without the knowledge and consent of an owner or lessor of the motor vehicle.” The statute does not apply to law enforcement agencies.
The first offense of this statute is considered a misdemeanor, the second offense is a gross misdemeanor, and the third and any subsequent offenses are felonies.
There are 11 different states that consider GPS and other location trackers stalking, including Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wyoming, as well as Washington, D.C., Another ten states prohibit the installation of a tracking device on a vehicle without the owner’s consent. These states include Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Nevada as of last year. Finally, in six other states – California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Virginia – there are prohibitions on electronic tracking generally, not just on vehicles, but any time they are used to determine the location or movement of a person without their consent.
Why have states become so concerned about GPS trackers? According to tech researchers from Cornell and New York University, spyware is often used for domestic violence. In a paper published in 2018 for the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, researchers noted that there are “several hundred” apps used in intimate partner surveillance and that there are dozens of overt spyware tools. They found that many of these apps appear to be legitimate, but can be used for – and, in some cases, are even advertised for – surveillance instead of legitimate purposes. Reportedly, after being informed of the study, Google promised to expand their restrictions on such apps.
In terms of GPS trackers specifically, there have been many reports of victims of intimate partner violence feeling “terrorized” by such trackers. This has also led to the rise in “tracker detecting” apps, which purport to be able to scan for things like GPS trackers and Apple AirTags.
GPS trackers have also been used to harass public officials. In fact, Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve revealed that, during the 2022 election season, she found a GPS tracking device on her vehicle. Mayor Schieve discovered that it was the same monitoring device that had been used months earlier to track then-Washoe County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung.
Mayor Schieve brought a court case against the private detectives, who have refused to name their clients. At the time, this was not illegal. After the Court affirmed the Discovery Commissioner’s recommendations the private investigators to comply with subpoenas that would identify the individuals who hired them, the private investigators filed a petition for writ with the Nevada Supreme Court, which is still pending final decision.
The passage of a statute making the use of GPS trackers on vehicles illegal is a major shift in Nevada law, particularly in the area of family law where the issue of GPS trackers is raised often. Individuals who suspect there may be a tracker located on their vehicle can generally contact law enforcement or a private investigator to check a vehicle for trackers. If you are dealing with a contentious divorce or custody matter and have been tracked with a GPS tracker, an experienced family law attorney can help advise you as to your next steps.