Technology, as everyone in Atlanta knows, moves very fast. Sometimes, it moves so fast that our legal system has trouble keeping pace.

But recently, criminal defense attorneys cheered a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that put important curbs on the power of law enforcement authorities to use GPS devices to track suspects. Their decision is important because it updates criminal law to the realities of 21st century technology.

Now, everyone, criminal defense attorneys included, is in favor of justice, and that of course entails a just punishment for those who have done wrong. But that is no excuse to trample on everyone's rights, including the right not to be scrutinized to an unjustifiable degree by police.

The Supreme Court recently said that allowing police to attach a GPS device to a suspect's car or to use GPS data that the suspect's own GPS device is collecting is too broad an intrusion into a person's personal freedom. The justices all had their different reasons, but they all felt that this went too far.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, for example, said that an awareness that the government could be watching, "1984"-style, chilled freedom of expression and created too great a likelihood that the information could be abused.

It is important that you understand this does not mean police cannot use GPS information at all. Rather, it means police cannot use GPS information without a warrant and cannot access GPS information indefinitely. If police had a warrant and only used GPS information for a specific purpose and for a proscribed amount of time, that might be okay.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, "Police Use of GPS Devices Limited by U.S. Supreme Court," Jan. 23, 2012