Somini Sengupta reports: Judges and lawmakers across the country are wrangling over whether and when law enforcement authorities can peer into suspects’ cellphones, and the cornucopia of evidence they provide. A Rhode Island judge threw out cellphone evidence that led to a man being charged with the murder of a 6-year-old boy, saying the police…
Category: U.S.
High-tech surveillance gear raises questions in New Jersey
Associated Press reports: A federal anti-terrorism program has drawn North Jersey deeper into the practice of hidden surveillance, equipping police departments with high-tech cameras, infrared technology and automatic license plate readers to keep tabs on people as they travel to local reservoirs, financial hubs and malls. […] Homeland Security’s representative in New Jersey, citing national…
The Fourth Amendment and Faulty Originalism
FourthAmendment.com points us to an essay by Joseph R. Stromberg on the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). Here’s how it begins: “All arrests are at the peril of the party making them.” —Alexander H. Stephens, August 27, 1863 These days the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution means next to nothing. Consider, for example, the choice…
Petraeus and Privacy: Did We Overreact?
For a different perspective on the Petraeus-Broadwell-Kelley-Allen case, read Derek Bambauer’s blog post on Info/Law. Here’s a snippet: I’ll be candid: the privacy community has a growing tendency to cry wolf. That is fine for advocates, but it risks conflating real issues and threats (warrantless wiretapping, use of drones domestically, surveillance for national security purposes domestically) with sensational…