Robert Frommer, a senior attorney at The Institute for Justice, writes: Geofence warrants are powerful tools that let law enforcement identify devices located at a specific location and time based on data users send to Google LLC and other tech companies. But left unchecked, they threaten to empower police to invade the security of millions of Americans. Thankfully,…
Category: Surveillance
Privacy Class Action Spotlight: Surge of Privacy Class Actions in Arizona Targeting Email Pixel Tracking
Leslie Shanklin, Jeff Warshafsky, Aaron Francis, and Anna W. Chan of Proskauer write: There has been a recent surge of privacy class action lawsuits under the Arizona Telephone, Utility, and Communication Service Records Act targeting the use of common email marketing analytics technologies. Defendants are asserting standard defenses including lack of Article III standing as…
EFF to Tenth Circuit: Protest-Related Arrests Do Not Justify Dragnet Device and Digital Data Searches
Brendan Gilligan, Saira Hussain, and Jennifer Lynch of EFF write: The Constitution prohibits dragnet device searches, especially when those searches are designed to uncover political speech, EFF explained in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The case, Armendariz v. City of Colorado Springs, challenges device and data seizures and searches…
Backyard Privacy in the Age of Drones
Hannah Zhao writes: Police departments and law enforcement agencies are increasingly collecting personal information using drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition to high-resolution photographic and video cameras, police drones may be equipped with myriad spying payloads, such as live-video transmitters, thermal imaging, heat sensors, mapping technology, automated license plate readers, cell site…