Related Updates
Supreme Court Will Hear Significant Cell Phone Tracking Case
Today the Supreme Court announced it will review United States v. Carpenter , a case involving long-term, retrospective tracking of a person’s movements using information generated by his cell phone. This is very exciting news in the world of digital privacy. With Carpenter , the Court has an opportunity to...
Expansive Protections Against Police Abuses Win Approval in Providence
Update [6/8/2017]: This post was updated to include a quote from a local organizer and the names of several supporting local organizations. On Thursday night, the capital of the smallest state in the union adopted a wide-ranging police reform measure with national and historic implications. The Providence...
No Hunting Undocumented Immigrants with Stingrays
In the latest sign of mission creep in domestic deployment of battlefield-strength surveillance technology, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year used a cell site simulator (CSS) to locate and arrest an undocumented immigrant, according to a report yesterday by The Detroit News . CSSs, often...
Congressional Oversight Committee Wants Warrants to Rein in Police Abuse of Cell-Site Simulators
A bipartisan Congressional committee’s recent report showcases troubling details about police abuse of cell-site simulators, and calls on Congress to pass laws ensuring that this powerful technology is only deployed with a court-issued probable cause warrant. Cell-site simulators, often called IMSI catchers or Stingrays, masquerade as cell phone towers and...
BART says all cars will have working security cameras by July 1
BART is considering a policy that would balance security interests and privacy rights. The BART Surveillance & Community Safety Act would require its Board of Directors to grant specific approval for each new surveillance device after listening to public comment and conduct yearly reviews of their use. Misuse, or ineffectiveness,...
EFF to BART: Adopt Spy Tech Control Law
EFF urged the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board to adopt a new law that would ensure community control of whether to adopt new surveillance technologies. All too often, police executives unilaterally decide to adopt powerful new spying tools that invade our privacy, chill our free speech, and...
Remember Dr. King—and What He Endured
Annual celebrations of the life and work of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often lionize the civil rights era, rightfully focusing on its achievements. For 40 years, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover presided over a reign of intimidation and terror across Washington. But celebrations often overlook the federal government’s...
Most Young Gig Economy Companies Way Behind On Protecting User Data: 2016 In Review
"Sharing" or "gig economy" companies like Uber and Airbnb continued to grow in 2016, meaning their data protection and privacy practices came into sharp focus as millions of Americans turned to these young companies for everything from rides to the airport to renting an apartment instead of a hotel room...
How police used pings from a cell phone to find Kala Brown
Cell phones run a hidden operating system that is always turned on and sends pings to cell phone towers constantly, always searching for the closest or strongest signal. Cell towers keep a log of those pings. Since pings are being sent constantly between multiple towers, records allow law enforcement to...
AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit, New Documents Reveal
Schwartz told The Daily Beast. “I’ve seen documents produced by the government regarding Hemisphere, but this is the first time I’ve seen an AT&T document which requires parallel construction in a service to government. It’s very troubling and not the way law enforcement should work in this country.”
