Kashmir Hill writes: The Senate passed a $63 billion bill Monday to provide four years of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. One of the provisions of the Reauthorization Act is that the FAA clear the path for wider spread use of drones (a.k.a. unmanned aircraft) for governmental and commercial purposes. Within 90 days, the FAA has to speed…
Category: U.S.
Wash. considers collecting DNA upon arrest
Gene Johnson of Associated Press reports: Anthony Dias is the poster boy for why police and prosecutors hope Washington will join a growing number of states that require people to give DNA samples as soon as they’re arrested for a serious crime, rather than waiting until they’re convicted. In 2005, Dias was released on bail…
Audio recording law under scrutiny in Illinois
Associated Press reports: Tiawanda Moore didn’t think she was doing anything wrong when she took out her smartphone and started recording a conversation with two Chicago police officers she says were trying to stop her from filing a sexual harassment complaint against one of their colleagues two years ago. Moore was promptly arrested and charged…
Congress Trying to Fast-Track Domestic Drone Use, Sideline Privacy
Congress is poised to give final passage to legislation that would give a big boost to domestic unmanned aerial surveillance — aka “drones.” As we explained in our recent report, drone technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and there is a lot of pent-up demand for them within the law enforcement community. But, domestic deployment of unmanned…