Timothy B. Lee writes: The courts have traditionally allowed the police to inspect any items a suspect is carrying when they arrest him or her. But in the past, the information the police could obtain in this fashion was fairly limited. The advent of the smartphone has changed all that. A new document uncovered by…
Category: U.S.
Supreme Court dismisses Amnesty International’s challenge to FISA Amendments Act
Kevin Robillard reports: A closely divided Supreme Court threw out a challenge to the government’s terrorist surveillance programs, arguing journalists, human rights groups and lawyers could not prove they had been harmed by a government program monitoring foreign communications. In the 5-4 ruling, the court’s conservatives sided with President Barack Obama’s administration in arguing that…
WA: Drones’ surveillance of farmlands ignites debate on privacy invasion
Kylee Zabel reports: In a quest to defend the rights of Americans outlined in the Fourth Amendment, a seemingly unlikely partnership between a Republican representative and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) geared up bipartisan support to pass a bill that would limit the acquisition and use of surveillance drones by state and local public…
Homeland Security: Let’s be clear about aerial drone privacy
Declan McCullagh reports: A Homeland Security office says it plans to review the privacy implications of using drones to monitor U.S. citizens. The department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has created a working group that will “clarify any misunderstandings that exist” about DHS’s drone program, as well as make an effort to “mitigate and…