L.A. Council Members Propose Draconian, Unenforceable Vaccine Passports
Los Angeles County is largely vaccinated. This is a punitive, authoritarian performance.
Privacy
Prosecutors Tried To Seize $57K From This Man's Safe Deposit Box Because He Sold Bongs Without a Permit
After getting called out for a "manifestly inadequate" attempt at establishing probable cause for the seizure, the feds now say they will return Joseph Ruiz' money.
Top Cops Pick the Midst of an International Spying Scandal To Demand Encryption Curbs
Regulating privacy protections would put the public at greater risk than criminals.
China's Big Tech Crackdown Shouldn't Be Cheered by Antitrust Fans in the West
An onslaught of antitrust and data-security crackdowns have threatened the country's biggest ride-sharing platforms, cryptocurrency exchanges, and messaging services.
FBI Seized $900,000 From Safe Deposit Box on 'Pure Conjecture,' Federal Judge Says
Reason has joined a new legal effort seeking to force the government to unseal warrants justifying the FBI's seizure of more than 600 safe deposit boxes.
USPS Gets Hit With Lawsuit Over Social Media Snooping
Plus: Whistleblower on drone killings sentenced to federal prison, Biden carries on Trump's legacy on trade and immigration, and more...
EU Bureaucrats Seek to Diminish Your Cryptocurrency Privacy
Watch what happens when the drive for government surveillance meets longstanding technological ignorance.
A School District Asked To Survey Students About Private Matters. The Uproar Was Inevitable.
Government domination of education has bred distrust and conflict.
Federal Agencies Can't Resist Using and Abusing Facial Recognition
Some agencies don't even know ways their employees are using facial recognition.
Microsoft Is Using Bitcoin to Help Build a Decentralized Internet
The ION project promises to give individual users absolute control over their online identity and privacy.
SCOTUS Rules That California Violated the First Amendment by Routinely Demanding Donor Information From Advocacy Groups
Six justices agreed that the state's "dragnet for sensitive donor information" imposes "a widespread burden on donors' associational rights."
S. Ct. Strikes Down California Requirement that Charitable Organizations Disclose Major Donors to State AG
"The gravity of the privacy concerns in this [case] is further underscored by the [amicus briefs supporting the challenge].... [T]hese organizations span the ideological spectrum ...: from the [ACLU] to the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund; from the Council on American-Islamic Relations to the Zionist Organization of America; from Feeding America—Eastern Wisconsin to PBS Reno."
Federal Law Enforcement Is Running Roughshod Over Facial Recognition Privacy, Says GAO
Civil liberties advocates call for a moratorium on federal facial recognition.
Lawsuit Over Nieman Journalism Lab (at Harvard) Outing Commenter Can Go Forward
The plaintiff is Francesca Viola, who wrote the comment when she was a journalism professor at Temple University.
Cops Say Encryption Hinders Investigations. These Documents Say Otherwise.
Law enforcers have plenty of tools; they just want to paw through our data without effort or expense.
Judge Orders FBI To Halt Forfeiture of Cash, Jewelry From Safe Deposit Boxes
The FBI provided "no factual basis for the seizure," Judge R. Gary Klausner wrote.
Vijay Boyapati: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
The former Google engineer talks about inflation, the Austrian school of economics, and how bitcoin is revolutionizing banking.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis: Why I'm All In on Bitcoin
The Wyoming Republican believes bitcoin provides a serious alternative store of value, will spur renewable energy, and just might save the dollar.
Congress Weighs a Moratorium on Facial Recognition and Biometric Surveillance Technologies
And it's not a moment too soon.
Cops Now Need a Warrant for 23andMe and AncestryDNA Searches in Maryland and Montana
Two states have passed laws requiring court approval before the cops can use genetic genealogy services to track down a suspect.
Apple Surrendered Former White House Counsel Don McGahn's Account Information to Trump DOJ
Plus: Rep. Joaquin Castro wants Hollywood to hire more Hispanics...or else, lawmakers inch closer to an infrastructure deal, and more...
The Fed's Digital Dollar Would Be 'Nightmareville' for Privacy
Chairman Jerome Powell says the Fed will look into the "benefits and risks" of a digital dollar.
New Yorkers Are Watched by More Than 15,000 Surveillance Cameras
People have only official assurances that the technology isn’t being used to invade their privacy.
Public University Threatens To Monitor and Punish Off-Campus Student Behavior
Doing the wrong thing at an off-campus party could lead to on-campus consequences.
The FBI Took Their Safe Deposit Box and Everything Inside It. Two Months Later, They're Still Waiting for It To Be Returned.
"When you've done nothing wrong, you shouldn't be subjected to an investigation," says Paul Snitko, whose box was seized in a March 22 FBI raid of a Beverly Hills business.
See the FBI Dig Through an Innocent Woman's Safe Deposit Box
In a lawsuit, attorneys for the box's owner allege that federal agents conducted an illegal search that may have resulted in the loss of some valuable gold coins.
USPS Uses Facial Recognition and Other High-Tech Tools To Monitor Social Media
Plus: Three things that aren't as bad as they seem, Tennessee bans certain treatments for transgender minors, and more...
Overreacting To Domestic Terrorism Makes It Worse
Targeting “extremists” threatens civil liberties while increasing the stresses that lead to violence.
Risky Pleading in Sex-Related Libel Cases
If plaintiff broadly claims that defendant libeled her by "imputing unchastity," she risks having to disclose a lot about her sexual history.
The Police Dog Who Cried Drugs at Every Traffic Stop
Cops laugh about “probable cause on four legs” but the damage to innocent lives is real.
How Detectives Caught the Golden State Killer—and Unleashed a Catastrophe for Civil Liberties
Police were finally able to catch the serial killer using DNA genealogy databases—violating many innocent people's constitutional right to privacy.
The FBI Seized Heirlooms, Coins, and Cash From Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes in Beverly Hills, Despite Knowing 'Some' Belonged to 'Honest Citizens'
Victims of the FBI's constitutionally dubious raid say they've been told to come forward and identify themselves if they want their stuff back.
Report: FBI Misused Foreign Surveillance Powers To Investigate Domestic Crimes
Section 702 is supposed to be used to snoop on spies and terrorists, not Americans.
Warrantless Border Searches Draw Call for Supreme Court Action
The feds say they can paw through your phone and laptop any time you enter or leave the country.
REAL ID Deadlines Threaten America's Post-COVID Travel Plans. Could We Please Kill This Law?
More than half of Americans don’t have these new licenses. Airports are supposed to start checking them by October.
Lawmakers Look To Stop the Feds From Secretly Buying Your Private Data
A 2018 Supreme Court decision was supposed to protect your location data from federal snooping. That’s not what happened.
Cops Are Using Facial Recognition Technology More Than Previously Revealed
The surveillance state is available as a plug-and-play solution for any cop interested in a free trial period.
Ex-Rep. Katie Hill's Revenge Porn Lawsuit Against Daily Mail (UK) Dismissed
"Defendant has established that the images are a matter of public concern, as they speak to Plaintiff's character and qualifications for her position as a Congresswoman, allegedly depicting an extramarital sexual relationship with a paid campaign staff member, the use of illegal drugs by a sitting Congresswoman, and a tattoo similar to the symbols formerly used by white supremacists."
Names of Police Officers Involved in Defensive Shooting of Suspects Aren't Public Records
So holds the Florida Court of Appeal, interpreting the Florida Constitution's crime victims' rights provision. ("If a prosecutor determines that the officer was not a victim and instead charges the officer for his conduct," the names would be released, but no such determination was made here.)
Some Rhetoric from the Rotenberg v. Politico Complaint
Gripes about publishers getting "private commercial benefit" from "hate speech, propaganda, and statements that seek to destabilize American democracy"; argument that "[t]he public figure doctrine emerged in an era prior to the Internet advertising model that rewards news organizations for the ongoing display of defamatory content."
The Legal Complexities in Rotenberg v. Politico—#1332 Might Surprise You!
Remember: Lawyers’ true superpower is the power to turn all questions into questions about procedure.
When Is It Tortious to Report on Someone's Positive COVID Result?
A privacy controversy in a lawsuit by privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg (formerly of EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center).
Do Nannies Have "Justifiable Expectation" That They Won't Be Audiorecorded at Work?
No, says the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, though over a dissent.
25-Foot Rooftop Videocamera Peering Into Neighbor's Yard Must Be Taken Down
Sounds right to me.
