A Major 'Online Safety' Bill Cleared a Senate Committee. More Crackdowns on Internet Freedom Could Be Coming.
The Senate Commerce committee advanced four bills related to online and AI safety in the name of protecting children.
Privacy
Reality Show Participant's #Scandoval Sex Videos Aren't of "Public Interest" for California Anti-SLAPP Law Purposes
Dissent: "We judges can write all we want, but this public voted with its eyeballs."
Roanoke Removes Gunshot Detectors Months After Approving Them
Limited evidence of effectiveness combined with privacy concerns raises questions about the sensors.
No Liability for Parents Over Their Son's Surreptitiously Recording Sex Acts in Their Home
"Suing individuals because they have a homeowner's insurance policy or are collectible defendants is not a proper purpose for a lawsuit."
A New Jersey News Outlet Asks the Courts To Stop a Judge's Censorship
The judge concluded that a high school student's privacy interests trumped freedom of the press.
Georgia Has Arrested At Least 20 Officials for Misusing the Flock Surveillance Database
Michael Soyfer, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, calls it “just the tip of the iceberg.”
Kansas Lawsuit: ALPRs Turn a License Plate Into the 'Functional Equivalent' of a 'GPS Tracking Device'
The Kansas Justice Institute argues that Wichita's "warrantless ALPR dragnet surveillance program" violates the state constitution's privacy protections.
Homeland Security Is Spending $1 Billion on 'Autonomous' Border Surveillance Towers
The department plans to triple the number of surveillance towers along the U.S.-Mexico border over the next decade.
Minority Report: FBI Seeks AI for Political Watch List
Documents show the FBI seeking AI tools to flag Americans before they act, as the terror watch list's focus moves toward domestic dissent.
Georgia Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Misusing Flock Surveillance Data
Although Flock Safety’s auditing tools have helped catch the bad actors, more is needed to protect Americans’ privacy.
Florida Wildlife Agency Tracked Critics Using Law Enforcement Database
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says it followed the law when it pulled the driving records of more than a dozen critics of the agency.
Pennsylvania's Top Court Unanimously Rejects Warrantless Searches of Private Land
The justices said the "open fields" doctrine, a sweeping exception to constitutional privacy protections, does not apply in the Keystone State.
Privacy-Minded Fashion Aims To Baffle Facial Recognition
Wearable bright patterns, infrared lights, and reflective coatings challenge the surveillance state.
Iran Used Ad Tracking To Hunt American Soldiers: Report
The U.S. government has used private ad data to get around the Fourth Amendment. Now foreign enemies are turning it into a weapon.
European Commission Moves Us One Step Closer to the End of the Open Internet
It's coming faster than you might think.
Border Cops Can Search Your Phone Whenever They Want, If You're Within 100 Miles of the Border
They can also search it without a warrant if you're flying abroad. Yes, even if you're an American citizen.
If You Get Drunk and Brandish a Fake Gun in a Waymo, Don't Blame the Cameras
Firing a toy gun out of a camera-covered robotaxi while underage drinking was never going to end well.
Florida Police Officer Used Mass Surveillance Network to Stalk Romantic Interest
Newly published dashcam footage shows a sheriff’s deputy driving recklessly to pull over an actress he’d met while working on the set of the TV show Bad Monkey.
A Trump-Appointed Judge Quashes a Subpoena Aimed at Validating the President's Stolen-Election Fantasy
The decision rebukes the DOJ for demanding "private and sensitive" information about Georgia election workers "with no legitimate law enforcement purpose."
The Supreme Court's 'Reasonable Expectation of Privacy' Test Defies Expectations
Neil Gorsuch proposes an alternative to a Fourth Amendment standard that has proven to be an unreliable safeguard against government snooping.
U.K. Might Force Social Platforms To Give Government-Backed Media Special Status
Plus: The Democrats' Project 2029 would ban minors from social media, the Supreme Court protects private data in geofence warrant ruling, and more...
Neil Gorsuch Urges Supreme Court To Correct 2 Wrong Turns That Undermined Civil Liberties
The justice criticizes the Court’s endorsement of coercive plea bargaining and its embrace of dubious Fourth Amendment doctrines.
In Chatrie, Neil Gorsuch Reiterates His Critique of 2 Dubious Fourth Amendment Doctrines
The justice argues that the "reasonable expectation of privacy" test and the third-party doctrine are indefensible in theory and unworkable in practice.
In Big Win for Fourth Amendment Advocates, the Supreme Court Says 'Geofence Warrants' Count as a 'Search'
Understanding Chatrie v. United States.
Who Owns Your Data?
The Supreme Court could be poised to decide whether it's you or Big Tech companies.
6th Circuit Backs Ban on Ohio Minors Using Social Media Without Parental Permission
The court said the law—which would require age verification for everyone—constitutes only a “marginal burden” and "does not raise meaningful concerns about muting valuable protected discourse."
Carded Before Sexting?
The U.K. says tech companies have three months to stop minors from sending or receiving nude images—and universal identity checks for phone users may be the only way forward.
Robocalls Are Annoying. Eroding Privacy Is Not the Right Way To Stop Them.
A proposed FCC rule would require Americans to share more personal information with phone service providers. Bye, bye burner phones?
Free Speech Unmuted: The First Amendment and Privacy Rights
Jane Bambauer and I explore the uneasy collision between free speech and privacy law—from anonymous pamphlets and wiretaps to revenge porn, hidden cameras, Hulk Hogan, and whether anyone truly owns their own name or life story.
Leaked Plans Show School Buses Could Become Roaming Surveillance Vehicles
The documents reveal BusPatrol’s plan to equip tens of thousands of school buses with license plate readers and share the data with law enforcement.
The Supreme Court Protected Donor Privacy. The IRS Didn't Get the Memo.
The federal government is still fighting to collect nonprofit donor information despite Supreme Court warnings that such demands chill free speech.
The Federal Government Tried To Spy on Your Financial Transactions. A Texas Court Just Said No.
The ruling is a victory not just for one Texas title company, but for the principle that agencies like FinCEN can only do what Congress actually authorized.
Surveillance Tools Intended for Border Control Are Being Used Against Americans
U.S. citizens are being monitored and punished with technology meant to battle illegal immigration.
How a Bill Banning AI Companions for Kids Could Usher in Widespread ID Checks Online
Plus: Supreme Court pauses ban on mail-order abortion pills, TikTok's artistic merit, a defense of pickup artists, and more...
SCOTUS Narrows the Reach of the Voting Rights Act
Plus: The Supreme Court says “demands for a charity’s private member or donor information” raises First Amendment problems.
A SCOTUS Case Exposes the Dangers of 2 Misguided Fourth Amendment Doctrines
"Geofence" searches illustrate the perilous combination of modern technology and deference to law enforcement.
SCOTUS Weighs 'Geofence Warrants' and the Future of Digital Privacy
The government wants access to millions of cell phone location histories. The Supreme Court will decide what the Fourth Amendment allows.
Judge Reaffirms: EEOC May Subpoena Penn's Records as to "Jewish-Related Organizations" (and Others) in Investigation of Anti-Semitic Harassment at Penn
But the judge suspends his decision pending appeal, so that the appellate court has "time to consider and decide the merits of this case, absent unnecessary procedural deadlines."
Congress Still Has a Chance To Curb Section 702 Surveillance Abuses
Sen. Ron Wyden warns that Americans would be “stunned” at how officials have used the law.
A New Age-Verification Bill Could Make You Show ID To Use a Computer or Smartphone
Plus: The war with Iran is raising condom prices, increased legal liability for chatbot advice could backfire, and more...
Alabama Supreme Court to Cops: It's OK To Force a Pastor Watering Flowers To Show His ID
The court ruled that police can demand a physical ID under the state's stop-and-identify law.
San Jose's 'Creepy' and 'Deeply Intrusive' ALPR Camera System Is Unconstitutional, a New Lawsuit Says
The city has created a network of nearly 500 cameras that routinely monitor innocent people as they go about their daily lives.
Justice Ginsburg Cancer Treatment Leak Prosecution: Blame the Cat
"Russell insisted that he didn't know how his credentials had been used to run the 'Gins' and 'Ginston' searches. But he theorized that 'potentially his cat had run across the keyboard and typed in those letters.'"
Trump Says He's Willing To 'Risk' Your Rights for His Surveillance Powers
The president once said he wanted to kill warrantless electronic spying. So much for that.
ICE Is Determined To Unmask a Reddit User Whose Only Crime Seems To Be Criticizing ICE
After withdrawing a summons in the face of a legal challenge, the government is seeking a grand jury subpoena.
Photo: Ring Calls Off the Search Party
Following a backlash to its Super Bowl commercial, Ring owner Amazon announced that it was canceling a planned partnership with Flock Safety.
