Court convicts man of drug possession but rules GPS probe without warrant illegal

And yet it's okay for police to stop me without probable cause and check the contents of my pockets and my wallet.

As someone who is concerned about my privacy in this ever-growing "always public" world, with IoT and cameras everywhere connected to who-knows-what and being hackable, this court decision pleases me.

no Sensei258 , its not allowed for them to do more than ask you for ID ( legally) , you are more than welcome to refuse search and they have a choice , let you go or provide suspicion ( which can be anything ) to detain you. Its entirely up to you if you rather waste your time in koban or not.

"Tanikawa's defense claimed during the trial that data from a GPS device that the police had attached intermittently to the defendant's car since 2013 and footage from a surveillance camera set up by the police to monitor the garage could not stand as evidence because it had been obtained illegally."

This leads to many questions. Did it five or six years to catch him? Did they really attach a GPS to his car intermittently? Why intermittently? Did he or they remove it intermittently? Did they, in fact, track him by his phone or car GPS without a warrant?

This ability to track people is creepy, it is big brother, it is like the hated Stasi or KGB. It gives the government too much power over opposition and should not exist in a free country.

ability to track people is creepy? where have you been living last 10 or so years? Everybody and their dog can track you as long as you have your phone or smartwatch with you... a car is trivial and most new cars today have direct sat link to manufacturer ..

6 years seems pretty harsh. And given the length of time the police were watching this guy, sounds like a proverbial witch hunt.

Its called speed in English, aka poor mans coke ;o)

@sensei258

You can actually refuse politely by asking them to show you the warrant. Once you ask them for warrants they become super polite and say "お願いです” but you can refuse and suggest to show your resident card instead at most.

There are some super creepy and consistent cops as well who try their best to search, you can ask them (politely again) to search a Japanese passer by and you will let them search your bag.

Why do they call it stimulates? Do they test it and know what it is? Coffee is a stimulant.

Goodluck: "Why do they call it stimulants?"

The Japanese word used by the law and the police here is 覚醒剤 Kakuseizai. Try looking it up.

It is roughly equivalent to the vague English word 'uppers', without specifying the actual drug, which is par for the course here. Granted it sounds strange at first in English. Readers here guess from this word that it was ice/meth of some kind.

So, no punishment for the police for doing what they did illegally, and despite it the judge can use the subsequent interrogation as evidence of guilt. Is it any wonder the police here continue to get away with murder and never change?

@Goodlucktoyou

There are legal stimulants and illegal stimulants. Also, legal stimulants that are legally gained and illegally gained. Yes, caffeine is a stimulant. caffeine contained in coffee are considered legal stimulants. However, cocaine, methamphetamines, and MDMA (ecstasy) are some examples of illegal stimulants both here in Japan and in the USA.

They are probably not saying what specific drug it is because the media does not know and/or the Government does now want to release that information.

I don't know what specifically this guy got caught with, but kakuseizai is a catch-all term which can refer to speed, coke, stimulants, MDMA etc. Pretty wide ranging.

Presiding Judge Hidehiko Sato said the crime was "sufficiently provable" through the evidence obtained through interrogation.

Forced confession?

yak or mostly likely just chimpila got caught with 60g of shabu , which is horrible and addictive drug.. 6 years aint enough.