Being fingerprinted upon arrest is so commonplace, few people think twice about it. But what if the arresting agency wanted to take DNA? And run it against an index of unsolved crimes? And then store it in a database for eternity? Over the past several years, DNA collection has become more common, and it’s regularly…
Category: U.S.
Feds invoke national secrets in wiretap case
The Obama administration, trying to derail a lawsuit over former President George W. Bush’s authority to wiretap Americans without court permission, has refused to take a position on the program’s legality and says a federal judge can’t decide that question because the crucial facts are national secrets. A ruling on whether Bush exceeded his constitutional…
Teen admits shooting upskirt images
A 15-year-old Emmaus High School student who admitted in juvenile court Friday that he took hundreds of upskirt photos and videos of female classmates and teachers was electronically shackled by a Lehigh County judge. While his final punishment must still be decided, Judge Kelly L. Banach ordered the Upper Milford Township boy not to use…
Judge rejects challenge to overseas wiretap law
A judge rejected a challenge to a law letting the United States eavesdrop on overseas conversations Thursday, saying fears by Americans that their conversations will be monitored and their rights violated were ”purely subjective.” U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ruled that the latest version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could not be challenged by…