surveillance
Report On Leak Investigation By CBP Reveals Unrestricted Surveillance Powers
According to an investigation by Yahoo News, a little-known division of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was found to regularly snoop on journalists, nonprofit workers, and even members of Congress using CBP’s vast arsenal of surveillance tools. Moreover, … Read more »
New FTC Report Admits that ISP Surveillance is Practically Inescapable
According to The Register, a new report by the FTC has concluded that it is nearly impossible for internet service provider (ISP) customers to escape surveillance from these companies in actual practice. In particular, the report notes that add-on … Read more »
Apple Torches Its Pro-Privacy Reputation to Build a Massive iPhone Surveillance Infrastructure
According to the EFF, Apple has announced that it will be building a content-monitoring system into every iPhone, obliterating its reputation as a privacy champion practically overnight. The smartphone giant explained that every iPhone will soon be automatically loaded … Read more »
Magistrate Judge in Chicago Sets Stage for Challenging “Geofence” Warrant Constitutionality
According to a report in Wired, a magistrate judge based in Chicago has called the constitutionality of expansive location-based search warrants into question for the first time. In a July ruling that was only recently unsealed, judge M. David … Read more »
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 »
San Francisco Debuts Nation’s First Facial Recognition Regulation with Ban on Government Use
An article last week from Wired reported that San Francisco has passed the nation’s first ban on government use of facial recognition technology. Enacted by the city’s Board of Supervisors, the measure was adopted as part of a suite of … 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 »