Jim Garland, Alexander Berengaut, and Chloe Goodwin of Covington & Burling write: On November 1, 2021, the Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in American Civil Liberties Union v. United States. In its petition, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought the Supreme Court’s review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and…
Category: U.S.
Activists leak 600 hours of mostly Dallas police helicopter footage after city’s 22 terabyte loss of criminal case data
David Lee reports: Data transparency activists released a massive 600-hour leak of mostly Dallas Police Department helicopter footage, raising more questions about the city’s data security protocols three months after DPD admitted to a 22-terabyte deletion of case data that resulted in the release of criminal defendants awaiting trial. Distributed Denial of Secrets — a…
D.Vt.: Def has to show his reasonable expectation of privacy in his Facebook account; what are the privacy settings?
John Wesley Hall notes: Defendant didn’t show a reasonable expectation of privacy in his Facebook account by showing what he did to keep the account private. Even if he did, there was probable cause for the Facebook warrant. United States v. Whitcomb, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 214485 (D.Vt. Nov. 5, 2021). It would be nice…
The U.S. Treasury is buying private app data to target and investigate people
Sam Biddle reports: The Treasury Department has in recent months expanded its digital surveillance powers, contracts provided to The Intercept reveal, turning to the controversial firm Babel Street, whose critics say it helps federal investigators buy their way around the Fourth Amendment. Two contracts obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request and shared with…