mass surveillance
Federal Court Finds NSA Metadata Program Illegal
According to Politico, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a former NSA call metadata collection program violated US law. In its unanimous decision, the appeals court found the authorizations of the NSA’s so-called “bulk collection” … Read more »
Leading Contact Tracing Initiative Offers Insufficient Assurance Against Abuse
Not long after the first wave of states imposed shelter-in-place orders to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, public discourse coalesced around initiatives which proposed harnessing technology to stem the spread of the virus.
In particular, public health experts in the United … Read more »
Law and Technology Quickly Converging to Allow Unblinking Aerial Surveillance
As its law enforcement application continues to evolve and proliferate, drone deployment in municipalities across the country has attracted spirited resistance by civil libertarians. Considering the degree to which drones can compromise the privacy of individuals, notably in their … Read more »
Research Shows Poor Americans More Severely Harmed By Surveillance
According to a piece in The New York Times, a recent study by the Pew Research Center revealed that Americans in lower income groups confront greater privacy and security concerns, but enjoy less access to means of addressing them… Read more »
Report: Justice Department Convenes Forum to Expand Police Use of Drones with Zero Concern for Privacy Implications
Last week, the US Department of Justice issued a press release announcing the start of a forum designed to help law enforcement agencies across the country expand their use of drones. The release, which took the form of a … Read more »
San Francisco Moves to Prohibit Government Use of Facial Recognition and Limit Surveillance Technology
According to a new piece by The Atlantic, San Francisco legislators are moving ahead with a bill that would prohibit city government agencies from using facial recognition technology. While the draft legislation, known as the “Stop Secret Surveillance … Read more »
Republicans and Dozens of Democrats in House Reauthorize Mass Surveillance Without Reform
A new piece from The Intercept reports that, in a vote of 256 to 164, the US House of Representatives approved a renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702 provisions, forcing a vote in the Senate. Extending … Read more »
Opinion: For Sun-Times Editorial Board, No Warrant, No Surveillance, No Exceptions
This week the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board took a firm stance against warrantless surveillance against American citizens, specifically that which is tolerated under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The legislation, which is under consideration for … Read more »
From Bridgeview to Black Lives Matter, Targets May Change, But the Surveillance Remains the Same
Two new reports released in as many weeks, one by WBEZ and the other by Al Jazeera, vividly illustrate how politically motivated policing is a thread that runs through law enforcement from before the start of the war on … Read more »
Supreme Court to Weigh Case Which May Extend Fourth Amendment Protections to Searches of Location Data Archives
According to a new story from The New York Times, the US Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case which could decide whether or not Fourth Amendment protections are extended to law enforcement searches of past location data records. … Read more »