By Bennett Cyphers Over the past few years, data brokers and federal military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies have formed a vast, secretive partnership to surveil the movements of millions of people. Many of the mobile apps on our cell phones track our movements with great precision and frequency. Data brokers harvest our location data…
Category: U.S.
Westfield council orders IT to remove “spyware” from clerk-treasurer’s computers
Anna Skinner reports: After nearly a year of litigation between Westfield Mayor Andy Cook and Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Gossard, the Westfield City Council asked the city’s Director of Informatics, Chris Larsen, to remove the BeyondTrust software from the clerk-treasurer’s office computers during a June 13 council meeting. The meeting included public discussion between council members, Larsen…
Inevitable discovery?
A case mentioned on FourthAmendment.com caught my eye: Defendant consented to providing his passcode to his cell phone. Even if not, it was admissible because of inevitable discovery. United States v. Morales, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104053 (E.D.Mo. June 10, 2022).* I wish I could access the opinion because how would it be inevitable discovery…
You agreed to what? Doctor check-in software harvests your health data
Gregory Fowler reports: […] Several Washington Post readers recently wrote to Ask Help Desk about a consent form they were asked to sign while checking in for a doctor’s appointment. Most of us just hurriedly fill out whatever paperwork is put in front of us, but these eagle-eyed readers paused at this: “I hereby authorize…