Showing posts with label warrantless search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warrantless search. Show all posts

Surprise! NSA Data Will Soon Routinely Be Used For Domestic Policing That Has Nothing To Do With Terrorism

by Radley Balko. Everyone is presumed guilty. A while back, we noted a report showing that the “sneak-and-peek” provision of the Patriot Act that was alleged to be used only in national security and terrorism investigations has overwhelmingly been used in narcotics cases. Now the New York Times reports that National Security Agency data will  ... MORE

Over 50 Rallies Take Place In US Cities To Support Apple

by Tim Hardwick. Privacy campaigners held organized rallies across the US yesterday to protest the FBI's demands that Apple unlock the iPhone at the center of its San Bernardino shooter investigation. Following on from limited protests in California last week, rallies extended from Albuquerque to Washington DC to support Apple's insistence that complying  ... MORE

U.S. Intel Chief James Clapper: We Could Use Your Fridge To Spy On You - Do Digital Searches Require A Warrant?

Our ubiquitous government.  United States Intelligence Chief James Clapper has come out and said the government can now use your refrigerator to spy on you, according to a report presented to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “In the future, intelligence services might use the [Internet of Things] for identification, surveillance, ... MORE

What Are My Rights If The Police Want To Search My Car?

Just say no.   Police are only allowed to search your vehicle under very limited circumstances.   However, too many consent to incriminating searches because they do not know they can refuse or they feel intimidated. This information about police and vehicle searches can help you if you face one of these encounters.  It cannot be          ... MORE

Elizabeth Nolan Brown: Homeland Security Asking Hotel Staff To Report Lodgers That Use Too Many Condoms

Frequent minibar-restock is a no-no.      The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to pour time and taxpayer money into convincing the American people that there's an epidemic of sex trafficking here. So bad is this alleged epidemic that ordinary crime-control measures won't work, hence the department is recruiting truck drivers   ... MORE

Child Molestation If Done By Private Individual: Ten-Year- Old Girl Gets 2-Minute TSA Patdown Over Juice Pouch

by Morgan Cook.     A Capri Sun juice pouch mistakenly left in a 10-year-old San Diego girl’s carry-on handbag led a TSA agent to subject the girl to almost two minutes of frisking and extra screening that lasted about an hour, her father said. Liquids exceeding 3 ounces are not allowed in carry-on bags, for fear they might contain explosives, but the    ... MORE

TSA Makes It Harder For Passengers To Avoid 'Virtual Strip Search' Scanners Just In Time For The Christmas Rush

by Wills Robinson.     Air travelers will find it harder to avoid body scanners after airport security protocols were quietly ramped up. The six million Americans who are expected to take to the skies over Christmas could face delays after the Transport Security Administration (TSA) tweaked guidelines so passengers will have to go through the    ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Want My Blood? Get a Warrant.

Balking at warrantless alcohol testing.  Danny Birchfield drove his car into a ditch. Steve Beylund "nearly hit a stop sign while making a right hand turn into a driveway." William Bernard got his truck stuck in the river while trying to extract his boat. In his underwear. These embarrassing incidents—the first two of which happened in North Dakota,    ... MORE

High Court To Take Up Warrantless Alcohol Testing

by Sam Hananel.   The Fourth Amendment to have its day in court. The Supreme Court will decide whether states can criminalize a driver's refusal to take an alcohol test even if police have not obtained a search warrant. The justices on Friday agreed to hear three cases challenging laws in Minnesota and North Dakota that make it a crime for people   ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: The Spies Who Ruin Us

The Fourth Amendment has numerous virtues.   In an effort to draw attention away from the intelligence failures that permitted the attacks of 9/11 and create the impression that it was doing something — anything — to avoid a repeat, the federal government tampered seriously with freedoms expressly guaranteed in the Constitution.   ... MORE

Anthony L. Fisher: France Cracks Down On Civil Liberties

Warrantless raids, house arrests and more. Last Friday, France's parliament overwhelmingly passed a three-month extension of the national state of emergency, granting broad powers to law enforcement and significantly curtailing civil liberties. The Guardian summarizes some of the new security measures: Expanded powers to immediately     ... MORE

Ed Krayweski: Man Slams The Door On Cops Who Had No Warrant, Then Cops Break His Door Down And Kill Him

More from the American gestapo.   An unknown number of sheriff's deputies showed up at the trailer where John Livingston and Clayton Carroll lived at 3:30 a.m., looking for someone as part of an unspecified "assault investigation." The cops were apparently told the person they were looking for no longer lived there. According to Carroll,   ... MORE

How Law Enforcement Can Track Your Every Move

by Jana Winter.   The recent expansion of Google’s Timeline feature can provide investigators unprecedented access to users’ location history data, allowing them in many cases to track a person’s every move over the course of years, according to a report recently circulated to law enforcement. “The personal privacy implications are pretty clear ... MORE

IRS Possessed Stingray Cellphone Surveillance Gear - Why?

by Nicky Woolf and William Green.     13th federal agency to use secretive dragnet!  The Internal Revenue Service is the latest in a growing list of US federal agencies known to have possessed the sophisticated cellphone dragnet equipment known as Stingray, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. Invoices obtained following a request  ... MORE

Charles P. Pierce: The Senate's New 'Give The NSA All Your Private Information' Bill Would Make George Orwell Blush

Scare tactics push big government agenda forward.     While nobody was watching, the Senate a couple of days ago passed something called the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which passed at least partly because if you say "Cyber warfare, boogedy-boogedy!" around nervous legislators these days, they'll pass a bill agreeing to  ... MORE