It’s important to note that at the moment, nobody has been charged with anything. The police have asked for Mr Harder’s fingerprints. He has declined – so the police have now applied to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Magistrates Court for a forensic procedures order, asking for the man to submit to fingerprinting. It is in response to this that Harder’s lawyer has said the evidence is illegal. Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker has adjourned the matter to allow both sides to present further material.
However, the facts seem to be these... An iPad owner had his iPad stolen. He seems not to have noticed its loss immediately; but when he did, he used Find My iPad to locate it. This took him to Harder’s property. He reported this to the police, but nothing happened.
He returned to Harder’s property, and this time he remotely triggered the audible alarm available via the app. He heard the alarm ringing in Harder’s garage. He returned to the police, who this time obtained a search warrant. “They allegedly discovered,” reports The Sydney Morning Herald, “the iPad and a haul of other items, including laptops and a police officer's badge, which were said to have been stolen from as far back as 2009.”
So now the police wanted Harder’s fingerprints to compare with those found at earlier burglary sites in order to eliminate him from their enquiries. But Harder declined, and is fighting the police forensic order. His lawyer is arguing that the police search was based on evidence that was unlawfully obtained because the iPad owner trespassed on his client's property while walking around the townhouse. He is further arguing that by setting off the alarm remotely, the iPad owner “also trespassed electronically.”
| We’ll know more on whether these arguments have legs next week when Ms Walker is expected to hand down a decision. In the meantime, a quick check on my own tablet shows no less than ten local WiFi signals electronically trespassing on my property – with me presumably trespassing on my ten neighbors. It’s possibly good that I don’t live in Australia. |