John P. Martin reports: A federal judge Friday permanently barred the Lower Merion School District from using webcams or other intrusive technology to secretly monitor students through their school-issued laptops. The five-page injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois also requires the suburban district to adopt transparent and expansive policies by September to…
Category: Featured News
Do Computer Searches Distort the ‘Plain View’ Doctrine?
Leonard Deutchman writes: The “plain view” doctrine of the Fourth Amendment holds that law enforcement properly authorized to be in a certain area can lawfully search and seize evidence seen in plain view from that vantage point. It is seen as an “exception” to the Fourth Amendment because, under it, searches and seizures are authorized…
Ie: Leaked EU report reveals big surge in call data requests
Karlin Lillington reports: The Garda made more requests for phone-call traffic data in 2008 than police in Germany, which has 20 times the population of the Republic. According to a leaked draft of a European Commission report, gardaí made more than 14,000 access requests for call data in 2008, a rate about 40 per cent…
Coalition government to roll back privacy and civil liberties intrusions
The U.K.’s new coalition government has issued a statement of agreement on some key issues. What is sure to warm the cockles of privacy advocates’ hearts, here’s the section on civil liberties: The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and…