Police in Delaware may soon be unable to use global positioning systems (GPS) to keep tabs on a suspect unless they have a court-signed warrant, thanks to a recent ruling by a superior court judge who cited famed author George Orwell in her decision.

In striking down evidence obtained through warrantless GPS tracking, Delaware Judge Jan R. Jurden wrote that “an Orwellian state is now technologically feasible,” adding that “without adequate judicial preservation of privacy, there is nothing to protect our citizens from being tracked 24/7.”

According to a report on Wired.com, a 20-year-old Arab-American college student was visited by several FBI agents after he found and removed an apparent government tracking device from his car.

The student, Yasir Afifi, told Wired he found the device on his car after taking it to a mechanic. He removed the device and posted a photo of it online (which you can see at the left). Then, he says, he got a visit from FBI agents.

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Federal courts have been grappling with the question of whether law enforcement agencies can secretly place GPS devices on citizens’ cars — and whether they can do it without a warrant.