James Bamford writes: Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the…
Category: U.S.
Do Reactions To Drug-Sniffing Dogs Say More About Drug Policy Than Privacy?
Jane Yakowitz writes: In Florida v. Jardines, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine whether the sniff of a trained narcotics dog at the front door of a person’s home constitutes a Fourth Amendment search. This is very exciting for privacy scholars because it presents two possible shifts in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. First, the court might further…
Mystery Court Challenge Sheds Light on Pervasive Patriot Act Power
Kim Zetter reports: Sometime earlier this year, a provider of communication services in the United States – perhaps a phone company, perhaps Twitter – got a letter from the FBI demanding it turn over information on one, or possibly even hundreds, of its customers. The letter instructed the company to never disclose the existence of…
PA: Man accused of hiding transmitter under wife’s bed
If Kashmir Hill wasn’t on vacation, she’d probably have a field day with this one. Kristen Doerschner reports: A Raccoon Township man was charged after police said he hid a listening device under his wife’s bed in an attempt to catch her having an affair. Suzanne Cripe, no age given, of 111 Grays Lane, contacted…