Spencer Ackerman writes: There was a time when the Department of Homeland Security wasn’t enthusiastic about its drone fleet. Unmanned flying surveillance ‘bots had the potential to freak out the public, top DHS science and technology officials worried. That time has evidently passed — particularly for smaller flying spies. In the coming months, Fort Sill,…
Category: Govt
Documents Obtained by ACLU Shed Light on Other Telecom Surveillance Techniques
Allie Bohm writes: For the past year, the ACLU has been gathering information on local law enforcement agencies’ use of cell phone location tracking. (We’ve written about what we’ve learned here, here, here, here, and here.) In addition to everything we’ve discovered about location tracking itself, we’ve also learned about a number of other techniques law enforcement and the telcos can…
Thoughts on the Oral Argument in the Fifth Circuit Cell-Site Case
Orin Kerr commented on yesterday’s oral argument: The Fifth Circuit held its oral argument in its Fourth Amendment cell-site case today; the audio is here. On the whole, I thought the argument was pretty unilluminating. The judges spent a lot of time trying to figure out the statute and the facts, but they had surprisingly few…
Bieber, Rihanna fan sites agree to $1 million FTC settlement for collecting information about children
Cecilia Kang reports: The operator of fan sites for musicians Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Demi Lovato have agreed to pay a $1 million fine for illegally collecting information about underage users, a violation of child online privacy laws. The Federal Trade Commission said the proposed settlement with New York-based Artist Arena still must be approved by a judge. An…