Ronald Bailey writes: Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a provocative op/ed by Yale law student Michael Seringhaus in which he advocated that the DNA profiles of every American be kept in a central forensic database. The goal of such a database is to help the police fight crime by better enabling them…
Category: Surveillance
ACLU sues state over police cell phone tracking
John Curran reports: The ACLU of Vermont is suing the state after unsuccessfully seeking to find out whether police agencies are using cell phone tracking technology to keep tabs on people’s whereabouts. The state Attorney General refused public records requests by ACLU seeking information about the practice, saying that information is exempt from public records…
Texas Congressman Proposes a Mandate for Automobile Recording Devices
Shelley Childers reports: A Texas congressman is planning to introduce legislation that would mandate electronic data recorders, also known as black boxes, in all new cars and trucks. […] And Congressman Gene Green from Texas says this legislation is especially relevant considering the massive Toyota recall saying, “As we witnessed in the Toyota hearing, there…
When tweets can make you a jailbird
Richard Lardner reports: Maxi Sopo was having so much fun “living in paradise” in Mexico that he posted about it on Facebook so all his friends could follow his adventures. Others were watching, too: A federal prosecutor in Seattle , where Sopo was wanted on bank fraud charges. Tracking Sopo through his public “friends” list,…