A San Francisco Coder Built a Musical Surveillance System
With a name inspired by a controversial police surveillance technology, Bop Spotter scans the streets for ambient tunes.
Surveillance
Does Spying on Laptops Really Prevent High School Suicides?
Administrators say AI surveillance tech helps struggling students get care. But false alarms are common.
Pasco County Sheriff Will End Predictive Policing Program to Settle Lawsuit Over Harassment
Body camera footage shows Pasco County deputies harassing families and threatening them with code violations because one of them was placed on a "prolific offender" list.
Trump Appointees Kash Patel and Massad Boulos Are Not Neocons
Trump's picks for FBI director and Middle East adviser buck his trend of appointing superhawks.
Abolish the NSA and CIA
Ending these unaccountable agencies would safeguard civil liberties and improve intelligence gathering.
Apple Makes It More Difficult for Crooks and Cops To Look at Your Phone
A new "inactivity reboot" protects data from thieves and helps preserve due process.
Feds Use 'Border Security' To Justify Social Media Surveillance
Supposedly targeted at immigrants and travelers, the program endangers everybody’s liberty.
In Michigan, the CIA Beat the FBI
Michiganders had to choose between a hawkish Democrat with an intelligence background and a hawkish Republican with an intelligence background for Senate.
After 100 Years, End the Open Fields Doctrine
Federal agents are allowed to search private property without a warrant under this Prohibition-era Supreme Court precedent.
One-Third of Expensive Border Surveillance Towers Don't Work
Decades of border surveillance programs have spent billions of dollars but achieved little.
Glasses Equipped with Facial Recognition Are in Our Future
Two Harvard undergrads give us a glimpse of the surveillance future.
Chinese Hackers Used U.S. Government-Mandated Wiretap Systems
A backdoor for anybody is a backdoor for everybody.
Limit Government's Use of Surveillance Technology Before It's Too Late
We can't stop technological advancement, but we should limit government misuse of it.
The Feds Are Skirting the Fourth Amendment by Buying Data
The government needs a warrant to spy on you. So agencies are paying tech companies to do it instead.
NFL's Facial Recognition Technology Sparks Fears of Fan Surveillance
Personal data retained by government or private entities are always at risk of compromise, misuse, or access by law enforcement.
A 'Reformist' Legal Expert Calls for a Surveillance State
A lawyer who should know better wants to ignore the history of snooping cops to fight guns and crime.
Will Milei's AI Policing Plan Become a Tool for Social Control?
Argentina's self-proclaimed libertarian president touts a crime-fighting plan that sounds like Minority Report.
Prostitution Surveillance Tower Goes Up in San Diego
Warrantless surveillance, Comic Con "sex trafficking," and the persistence of trafficking myths
Faulty Facial Recognition Tech Got Him Arrested. Now He's Getting a $300,000 Payout.
Robert Williams was arrested in 2020 after facial recognition software incorrectly identified him as the person responsible for a Detroit-area shoplifting incident.
What James C. Scott Taught Us About Liberty, Authority, Surveillance, and Resistance
Scott wrote about the ways people resist authority—and the unmapped territories where much of that resistance takes place.
New Jersey Wants Your Baby's Genes
Collecting and analyzing newborns' blood could allow the state to surveil people for life.
Tennessee Will Not Appeal Ruling Over Wildlife Agents Planting Cameras
While the decision is great news for Tennesseans, it's only the first step in reclaiming Americans' property rights against the open fields doctrine.
Federal Judge, ICE Agents Linked to Compromised Spyware Use
The surveillance company mSpy just suffered its third data breach in a decade, exposing government officials snooping for both official and unofficial reasons.
Sacramento Cops Shared License Plate Data With Anti-Abortion States
And a grand jury says that's illegal.
Baltimore Brings Back Controversial Cellphone Hacking System
A year after a court told Maryland police that Cellebrite searches were too broad, Baltimore quietly resumed using the software.
The Government Wants To Track Your Steak
A proposed USDA rule would require RFID tagging of all cattle and bison that move across state lines.
Illinois License Plate Cameras Are Violating People's Constitutional Rights, Says New Suit
The plaintiffs are challenging the state's widespread surveillance, which it collects through over 600 cameras.
Police Flew Drones Over One California City Nearly 20,000 Times in 6 Years
A WIRED investigation reveals the extent to which residents of Chula Vista are subjected to surveillance from the sky.
Colorado Will Replace Cops With Drones for Some 911 Calls
While drones are less likely to shoot or maim innocent civilians, they could also pose privacy issues.
Biden Wants a Defense Pact With Saudi Arabia While 9/11 Victims Are Suing the Kingdom
The White House announced a “near final” defense pact with Saudi Arabia yesterday, just as new evidence about Saudi links to 9/11 is emerging.
Here's How the CIA Plans To Use Your Ad Tracking Data
The intelligence community is admitting that info from data brokers is sensitive but isn’t accepting hard limits on how to use it.
Tennessee Appeals Court Rules Against Wildlife Agents Who Planted Cameras on Private Land
The three-judge panel concluded unanimously that while the state law at issue is constitutional, the wildlife agents' application of it was not.
An American Gangster at 100: J. Edgar Hoover's Authoritarian Legacy
Hoover’s reign at the FBI compromised American civil liberties and turned the FBI into America's secret police.
The Government Fears This Privacy Tool
The Department of Justice indicted the creators of Samourai Wallet, an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously.
Michigan Supreme Court Allows Evidence Collected by Drone, Without a Warrant
The court declined to address whether the search violated the Fourth Amendment and merely held that the evidence could not be excluded in a civil case.
Feds Worried About Anarchists Gluing the Locks to a Government Facility
A FOIA request reveals what the FBI and Homeland Security had to say about anarchist activities on May Day 2015.
The FBI Was Monitoring Student Protests Against Ben Shapiro
A newly-obtained intelligence memo shows that the feds took a keen interest in Trump-era campus speech controversies.
How the FISA Reauthorization Bill Could Force Maintenance Workers and Custodians To Become Government Spies
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," warns head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Revised Section 702 Surveillance Authority Poses More Danger Than Ever
New language could make almost anybody with access to a WiFi router help the government snoop.
Biden Opposes Bill That Would Keep Cops and Feds From Buying Your Data
The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act would prevent law enforcement and intelligence agencies from purchasing data that they would otherwise need a warrant to obtain.
Congress Does Not Come Back With a Warrant
Plus: A listener asks the editors for examples of tasks the government does well (yikes).
Donald Trump's Cowardice Over Warrantless Spying
"I told everybody, 'Do what you want,'" Trump said on Friday night, as he let the deep state win again.
Biden Hints at Freedom for Julian Assange
U.S. need for Australia’s cooperation in the Pacific may win the journalist’s release.
Democrats Tank FISA Warrant Requirement
The measure would have required federal agents to get a warrant before searching American communications collected as part of foreign intelligence.
Come Back With a Warrant
Plus: A fight over Section 702 spying reforms, Iran threatens Israel and the U.S., Trump's proposed tariff is even worse than we thought, and more...
Republicans Split on Whether FBI Should Be Able To Snoop Without a Warrant
A Section 702 reauthorization moving through Congress could actually weaken privacy protections.
In California and Elsewhere, Fear of Crime Drives the Surveillance State
Concerns about public safety will eventually recede, but Big Brother will still be watching.
The 3 Body Problem's Chilling Social Media Parallel
From struggle sessions to cancel culture, the story depicts the terrors of surveillance authoritarianism.
