Mathias Vermeulen writes: The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database. This database was initially created in 1998 and was designed to include only the genetic data of convicted sexual offenders. Its content was further extended to cover other serious offenses…
Category: Court
How Private Is Facebook Under the SCA?
Mark S. Sidoti, Philip J. Duffy and Paul E. Asfendis consider how the Stored Communications Act, enacted in 1986 as part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is interpreted decades later and incredible technological advances later. […] Recently, in Crispin v. Christian Audigier Inc., et al.,[FOOTNOTE 1] the U.S. District Court for the Central District…
An Illegal Search, by GPS
An editorial in today’s New York Times begins: In a landmark 1967 case, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence from a wiretap on a phone booth was obtained unconstitutionally. Despite the public nature of a phone booth, the tap violated the defendant’s privacy under the Fourth Amendment. “Wherever a man may be,” the court explained,…
SCOTUS won’t hear appeal of case involving cell phone privacy
Lyle Denniston reports that the Supreme Court declined to review a case involving cell phone privacy: Opening a new Term on Monday, the Supreme Court once again indicated that it is reluctant to get deeply involved in exploring new issues about privacy in the Digital Age. Without comment, it turned aside an appeal by the…