FBI Vehicle-Tracking Device: The Teardown

The FBI's use of GPS vehicle tracking devices is becoming a contentious privacy issue in the courts, with the Obama administration seeking Supreme Court approval for its use of the devices without a warrant, and a federal civil rights lawsuit targeting the Justice Department for tracking the movements of an Arab-American student.

In the midst of this legal controversy, Threat Level decided to take a look at the inside of one of the devices — which are generally custom-made for law enforcement. Working with the teardown artists at iFixit , we examined a device an environmental activist discovered on her vehicle in 2005 , which she recently provided to us.

What follows is iFixit's analysis of the first-ever dissection of an FBI vehicle tracker.

Above:

Step 1

We finally have one of these on the teardown table! Being in its presence, I can almost feel my civil liberties being flushed down the toilet.

Before we whip out the blowtorches and jackhammers, here's a look at the entire tracking system.

Car Alarms with 2-way Paging

2 Way LCD Car Alarms

All of our 2 way Alarm systems, that feature the great 2 way ...