弗兰克·汤普森将船上的监控设备称为政府发放的“脚镣”，称其侵犯了自己的隐私权
2026年10月11日 美国东部时间凌晨5:00 / 福克斯新闻
作者：基拉·麦克唐纳、安德鲁·马克·米勒
五代世袭的捕龙虾渔民弗兰克·汤普森和他的律师马修·吉利厄姆向福克斯新闻数字频道谈到了他们对这项24小时船舶追踪要求的第四修正案担忧，以及为何这场维权斗争尚未结束。
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一名缅因州捕龙虾渔民在最高法院周一拒绝受理其对GPS船舶追踪要求的挑战后，并不准备放弃，他担心这项规定威胁到了代代相传的生活方式，并可能波及其他行业。
几十年来，五代世袭的捕龙虾渔民弗兰克·汤普森一直驾船从缅因海岸外的小岛维纳夫港驶入深海，布设龙虾笼并收获龙虾。如今他表示，一项GPS追踪强制规定将他的船只变成了政府发放的24小时“脚镣”，引发了一场关于持续监控和第四修正案权利的多年法律大战。
“这完全违反第四修正案，无论如何总得有人受理这个案子，”汤普森对福克斯新闻数字频道说，“他们装在船上的这个黑匣子，在我看来是不合法的，而且我又不是罪犯。”
汤普森和妻子以及两个儿子共同拥有福克斯岛龙虾公司。本月早些时候他正在出海捕鱼时，儿子发来短信告知他，最高法院拒绝受理他的上诉申请，并维持了第一巡回法院的裁决，该裁决认为GPS追踪要求并未违反第四修正案，因为捕龙虾业是受到严格监管的行业。
【您街角的监控摄像头：合法监视还是宪法争议？】
缅因州捕龙虾渔民弗兰克·汤普森告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，GPS追踪要求引发了人们对政府如何监控其船只的隐私担忧。（太平洋法律基金会供图）
“我当时就告诉自己，‘好吧，战斗还没结束，’”他说。
这项强制规定要求缅因州持有联邦执照的龙虾船安装小型电子设备，汤普森表示，这彻底打乱了他的生活。
根据缅因州海洋资源部（缅因州DMR）的说法，这些设备会在船舶航行时每分钟记录一次位置，停泊时每六小时记录一次。汤普森说，追踪范围还不止于此，该设备甚至会在私人出行期间收集数据，这也是他案件中的核心关切点。
无论他是乘船返回本土还是举家出游，他说这个设备都让他感到“毛骨悚然”，不知道谁掌握了他的行踪信息，又有谁可能在监视。
“自由没了。他们还能对我们做什么？”他说。
汤普森表示，此事牵涉的利害关系远不止于此。他讲述了自己出生两天后就第一次随船出海，如今他的儿子和孙子也继承了这份事业。
【监控羊群设备在南部地区蔓延，州共和党议员寻求废除“1984式”追踪工具】
最高法院周一拒绝受理汤普森对GPS追踪要求的挑战，维持了下级法院的裁决。（太平洋法律基金会供图）
“捕鱼已经融入我的血液，我一直都想待在水上，那种出海捕鱼的感受我没法跟你解释，”他说，“这就是一种生活方式。”
汤普森将拉起龙虾笼绳、收获数十只龙虾的感觉比作“圣诞节拆礼物”。
“这就是我热爱的事，”他说。
汤普森的律师、太平洋法律基金会的马修·吉利厄姆表示，捕龙虾渔民必须安装追踪器“作为谋生和保留龙虾捕捞执照的条件”，他认为这项强制规定侵犯了第四修正案权利，“因为它未经搜查令”。
“这种强制侵入行为违反了第四修正案，因为这是不合理的搜查和扣押，”他说。
缅因州DMR是在大西洋 States 海洋渔业委员会的指示下于2023年实施这项规定的。此后，州政府官员和环保人士一直支持这项规定，称其对于保护濒危的北大西洋露脊鲸、监测龙虾种群并长期维持该行业至关重要。
“他们提出这项规定是为了保护鲸鱼，”汤普森说，“好吧，政府像往常一样满嘴谎言，而且我又不是罪犯。”
【前五角大楼人工智能主管警告：羊群监控摄像头可能在美国打造“中国式监控国家”】
汤普森表示，即使在他乘船进行私人出行时，追踪设备也会收集数据。（太平洋法律基金会供图）
这项规定生效后不久，汤普森和其他四名捕龙虾渔民提起联邦诉讼，称该设备让他们遭受了未经同意的追踪。
一名联邦法官驳回了此案，美国第一巡回上诉法院维持了该裁决，认为根据严格监管行业的例外情况，这项追踪要求并未违反第四修正案。
汤普森表示，隐私担忧不止局限于渔业，代表农场主和牧场主的美国农场局联合会（AFBF）也支持他向最高法院提起的上诉。该组织提交了一份法庭之友意见书，辩称下级法院的推理可能会削弱农场主、牧场主和其他受监管行业从业者的第四修正案保护。
“人人都有手机，政府想追踪就能追踪我们，”汤普森说，“但要是在拖拉机上装个黑匣子，记录他在田间劳作了多少天之类的，那就完了，我们的独立性荡然无存。”
尽管美国农场局联合会支持汤普森的上诉，但在第一巡回上诉期间单独提交简报支持追踪要求的保护法基金会（CLF）对周一的裁决表示赞赏。
“这项裁决是朝着妥善管理这一标志性物种迈出的宝贵一步，”保护法基金会副律师莎拉·沙哈比在一份新闻稿中表示。福克斯新闻数字频道联系了保护法基金会征求意见，但在发稿前未收到回复。
【得克萨斯州州长格雷格·雅培因隐私担忧，提议削减用于人工智能羊群监控摄像头的州资金】
汤普森手持其联邦执照龙虾船强制要求安装的GPS追踪设备。（太平洋法律基金会供图）
缅因州DMR也对该裁决作出回应，在周一的一份声明中重申了对追踪要求的支持。
“DMR仍然认为，这项数据收集要求对于龙虾渔业和资源的长期可持续性至关重要，”缅因州DMR专员卡尔·威尔逊写道。
吉利厄姆表示，尽管最高法院拒绝受理此案，但捕龙虾渔民和其他受监管行业从业者不应仅仅因为从事本职工作就丧失隐私权。
“捕龙虾渔民和其他人同样受第四修正案保护，我们将继续与政府越权行为作斗争，”他说。
汤普森表示，他仍想知道为何政府将捕龙虾渔民当作罪犯对待。
“我们只是在外面谋生，而且一直在好好保护这片资源，”汤普森说，“你无法想象我们为保护它付出了多少努力，却得不到任何认可。”
他警告称，如果针对不同渔业的政府监管继续推行，可能会“毁了我们”。
“人们在做出反应前根本不会思考，”他说，“这些规章制度正在剥夺我们世代传承的自由生活方式。”
【点击此处下载福克斯新闻APP】
至于下一步行动，汤普森表示他将继续与律师合作，争取彻底废除这项追踪要求。
“我是在为所有人而战，不只是为我自己，”汤普森说，“我只是在为所有人的自由而战。”
基拉·麦克唐纳是福克斯新闻数字频道的制作助理。
How a lobsterman’s privacy fight reached SCOTUS — and could ripple far beyond the water: ‘Ain’t over yet’
Frank Thompson calls the vessel monitoring device a government-issued ‘ankle bracelet’ that violates his privacy rights
October 11, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News
By Kiera McDonald, Andrew Mark Miller
Fifth-generation lobsterman Frank Thompson and his attorney, Matthew Gilliam, spoke to Fox News Digital about their Fourth Amendment concerns over a 24/7 vessel-tracking requirement and why the fight isn’t over.
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One Maine lobsterman isn’t ready to give up after the Supreme Court declined to hear his challenge to a GPS vessel-tracking requirement Monday, fearing it threatens a way of life passed down for generations and could ripple across other industries.
For decades, fifth-generation lobsterman Frank Thompson has driven his boat from Vinalhaven, a small island off the Maine coast, into deeper waters to set traps and haul in lobsters. Now, he says a GPS tracking mandate has turned his boat into a government-issued 24/7 “ankle bracelet,” sparking a years-long legal battle over constant surveillance and Fourth Amendment rights.
“This is totally against the Fourth Amendment, and somebody’s got to hear it one way or another,” Thompson told Fox News Digital. “This black box that they’re putting aboard the boat is not legal, in my mind, and I’m not a criminal.”
Thompson, who also owns Fox Island Lobster Company with his wife and two sons, was out fishing earlier this month when one of his sons texted him, letting him know the Supreme Court had declined his petition to hear the case and left in place a First Circuit ruling that said the GPS tracking requirement did not violate the Fourth Amendment because lobstering is a closely regulated industry.
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Maine lobsterman Frank Thompson told Fox News Digital a GPS tracking requirement has raised privacy concerns over how the government monitors his boat.(Pacific Legal Foundation.)
“I just told myself, I said, ‘Well, it ain’t over yet,’” he said.
The mandate, requiring a small electronic box to be installed aboard federally licensed lobster boats in Maine, has flipped Thompson’s life upside down, he said.
According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources (Maine DMR), the devices collect a boat’s location once per minute while moving and every six hours while docked. The tracking doesn’t stop there, Thompson said, with the device collecting data even during personal trips, a key concern in his case.
Whether Thompson is traveling back to the mainland or having a family picnic, he said the device gives him “a creepy feeling” about who has his information and who is possibly watching.
“Freedom is gone. What else can they do to us?” he said.
Thompson said there is even more at stake. He described how his first boat ride happened two days after he was born and how his sons and grandchildren are following in his footsteps today.
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The Supreme Court declined to hear Thompson’s challenge to the GPS tracking requirement on Monday, leaving the lower court’s ruling in place.(Pacific Legal Foundation.)
“Fishing’s been in my blood and I always want to be on the water and it’s something that I couldn’t explain to you the feeling that you get out fishing and stuff,” he said. “It’s just a way of life.”
Thompson equated the feeling of pulling up the line of a trap and catching dozens of lobsters to “opening a present at Christmas time.”
“This is what I like,” he said.
Matthew Gilliam, Thompson’s attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, said lobstermen must carry the trackers “as a condition of earning a living and keeping their lobster license,” arguing the mandate infringes on Fourth Amendment rights “because it was warrantless.”
“That forced trespass was a violation of the Fourth Amendment because it’s an unreasonable search and seizure,” he said.
Maine DMR implemented the rule in 2023 at the direction of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. State officials and conservationists have since backed the mandate as necessary to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales, monitor lobster populations and sustain the industry for years to come.
“They’re bringing it up because it’s for the whales,” Thompson said. “Well, the government’s lying through their teeth like they always do, and I’m not a criminal.”
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Thompson said the tracking device collects data even when he uses his boat for personal trips.(Pacific Legal Foundation.)
Shortly after the mandate took effect, a federal lawsuit was filed by Thompson and four fellow lobstermen, claiming the device subjected them to tracking they never consented to.
A federal judge dismissed the case, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld that decision, finding the tracking requirement did not violate the Fourth Amendment under an exception for closely regulated industries.
Thompson said the privacy concerns extend beyond fisheries, with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), which represents farmers and ranchers, standing behind his Supreme Court appeal. The group filed an amicus brief arguing the lower court’s reasoning could weaken Fourth Amendment protections for farmers, ranchers and others in regulated industries.
“Everybody’s got cell phones, they can track us if they want to,” Thompson said. “But put a black box on a tractor, seeing how many days that he’s out in the field or whatever, it’s just, the independence is gone.”
Although the AFBF supported Thompson’s challenge, the Conservation Law Foundation, which filed a separate brief in favor of the tracking requirement during the First Circuit appeal, praised Monday’s decision.
“This decision is a valuable step toward appropriately managing this iconic species,” CLF Associate Attorney Sarah Shahabi said in a press release. Fox News Digital reached out to CLF for comment but did not hear back before publication.
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Thompson holds the GPS tracking device required aboard his federally licensed lobster boat.(Pacific Legal Foundation)
Maine DMR also responded to the decision, maintaining its support for the tracking requirement in a statement on Monday.
“DMR continues to believe this data collection requirement is critically important to the long-term sustainability of the lobster fishery and resource,” Maine DMR Commissioner Carl Wilson wrote.
Gilliam said that despite the Supreme Court declining to hear the case, lobstermen and others in regulated industries should not lose their privacy rights simply for doing their jobs.
“Lobstermen and others have Fourth Amendment protections and we’ll continue fighting against government overreach,” he said.
Thompson said he still wants answers about why the government is treating lobstermen like they have done something wrong.
“We’re just out there making a living and we’re taking good care of the resource,” Thompson said. “You can’t believe the steps that we’ve done to take care of it and we don’t get credit for nothing.”
He warned that if government regulations continue to be adopted across different fisheries, it could “ruin us.”
“People just don’t think before they react to it,” he said. “All these rules and regulations and it’s taking away a lifestyle of generations of freedom.”
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As for what comes next, Thompson said he will continue to work with his lawyers to try to remove the tracking requirement once and for all.
“I’m fighting for everybody, not just myself,” Thompson said. “I’m just fighting for freedom for everybody.”
Kiera McDonald is a Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.
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