Judge Says Warrantless Flock Search Violated Driver's Fourth Amendment Rights
The automated license plate reader system is “a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance," says a federal judge.
Fourth Amendment
A Visit to a Gun Store Shouldn't Put You on a Government List
Gun registry bans might not be enough to protect gun owners from lists built from license-plate data.
Minneapolis Activists Used Encrypted Group Chats To Outmaneuver ICE. Now the Feds Want To Prosecute Them.
"I think courts are going to be very suspicious of how broad this is," one Minnesota lawyer tells Reason.
2 Lawsuits Cast Further Doubt on the Claim That ICE Agent Jonathan Ross Killed Renée Good in Self-Defense
According to complaints filed by Good's family, Ross was not in any danger when he fired three shots into her car.
Border Agents Nabbed Their Phones. These Two Floridians Are Fighting Back.
A former assistant state attorney and an immigrant rights activist both had their phones seized, despite having attorney-client privilege. They're suing to protect their data.
Cops Used AI Surveillance To Detain an Innocent Texas Driver. His Lawsuit Just Got the Program Struck Down.
AI-powered license plate readers flagged an abnormal driving pattern. Then officers made up reasons to pull him over and interrogated him, and they faked a K-9 alert to justify a nonconsensual search.
You Can Now Sue Federal Agents in California. Good Luck Getting Past Qualified Immunity.
Californians can now sue federal officers for civil rights violations, but cops can still claim qualified immunity as a bona fide defense for official misconduct.
Your Right to Privacy Doesn't Disappear When You're in Public
Defenders of Flock-style surveillance systems argue that people “have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public.” They're wrong.
AI Facial Recognition Didn't Put This Tennessee Grandma in Jail for 6 Months. Bad Policing Did.
Angela Lipps is suing for $10 million after a Fargo police detective ignored evidence that she was innocent and arrested her anyway.
The 5th Circuit Rejects Qualified Immunity for Cops Who Searched a Driver After a Bogus Traffic Stop
"It is clearly established that an officer cannot pull someone over without reasonable suspicion and thereafter concoct a fabricated traffic violation," the appeals court says.
Border Agents Search Phones Without Warrants. This Case Asks the Supreme Court if That's Constitutional
Federal appeals courts differ on whether the Fourth Amendment protects your cellphone at the border. A Texas lawyer is asking the Supreme Court to settle it.
Banning Flock Won't Be Enough Without Police Reform
It was Flock that led cops to the wrong woman. It was police who ignored the other evidence and jailed her.
Flock's Gunfire Alerts Raise a New Fourth Amendment Question
Gun owners should be paying attention to how police use gunfire microphones in conjunction with license plate cameras.
Judge Blocks Warrantless ICE Construction Site Raids After Agents in Alabama Arrested a U.S. Citizen 3 Times
Being on a construction site "does not open the floodgates to warrantless government intrusion," a federal judge ruled in a lawsuit filed by a construction worker who has been detained three times by ICE.
No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem: Flock and Border Cellphone Searches Excluded From 4th Amendment Rules
Cops keep carving out tech exceptions to the Fourth Amendment—and courts are giving them their blessing.
The Shaky Evidence That Flock Cameras Reduce Crime Rates
Flock has been promoting a recent study of its cameras' impacts on car theft. But the paper didn't demonstrate a causal effect.
Court Upholds Suspicionless Cellphone Searches at the Border
A federal appeals court says it's legal for federal agents to scroll through your phone and take pictures of its contents without a warrant or suspicion of criminal activity.
Strip Searches Generally Aren't Allowed as Searches Incident to Arrest, Third Circuit Holds,
thus deepening a circuit split. (Note that strip searches are generally allowed when and if the arrestee is placed in the general population of the jail.)
Appeals Court Grants Immunity to Texas Cops Who Held Handcuffed Woman Face Down in a Fire Ant Hill
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Taylor Rogers didn't show that it was clearly established that it was excessive force to be held down on a pile of fire ants while handcuffed.
Why Conservative Republicans Are Worried About License Plate Cameras
Recent comments by Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis reflect a bipartisan backlash against warrantless surveillance.
A Federal Indictment Charges an ICE Officer With Lying About a Shooting That DHS Eagerly Defended
The habitually dishonest department uncritically accepted a story that was immediately contradicted by video footage and physical evidence.
This U.S. Citizen Is Suing ICE for Arresting Him 3 Times. His Lawsuit Is Moving Forward.
Despite carrying a REAL ID, Leo Garcia Venegas has been repeatedly detained by immigration agents. Now he’s suing to block immigration raids targeting Latinos on private construction sites.
A New Bill Reflects the Bipartisan Backlash Against Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance
Criticism from Trump allies and recent survey results show that resistance to widespread deployment of automated license plate readers spans the political spectrum.
Georgia Cop Claimed Petting Zoo Donkey Was Charging at His Team When He Shot It
In an incident report, the officer who shot the donkey wrote that he had to shoot the donkey to save himself and a K-9 team from injury.
Wisconsin Cops Used Flock Over 100 Times To Track a Navy Veteran After He Lawfully Recorded a Traffic Stop
A federal lawsuit claims the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office used the Flock cameras without a legitimate government purpose and in retaliation against the vet for exercising his First Amendment right.
The Belated Backlash Against Flock Cameras
Americans are starting to recognize the dangers of pervasive surveillance by automated license plate readers.
A Tale of Two Tech Revolts
What the simultaneous revolts against Flock and data centers can tell us about the power and risks of populism
Getting Rid of Flock Isn't Enough To Solve America's Surveillance Problem
Civil liberties advocates warn that Americans’ privacy and surveillance concerns won’t be solved without strong legal protections.
He Spent Nearly 6 Years in Prison Based on the Word of a Notoriously Dishonest Houston Drug Cop
In a federal lawsuit, Byron Prophet argues that police supervisors "turned a blind eye" for years as Gerald Goines framed innocent people.
This YouTuber Got Kicked Out of the Flock Convention. So He Ran His Own Surveillance.
Benn Jordan wants the snoopers to be “a little unsettled.”
Post-9/11 Fear Grew the Surveillance State. 25 Years Later, It's Still Growing.
The U.S. government responded in ways that are so integrated into daily life that we no longer recognize them.
Police in Atlanta Settle Eric André Lawsuit, End Airport Drug Searches
While the settlement is a good thing, it's unfortunately still the case that at airports, the Bill of Rights is more of a list of suggestions.
Border Cops Detained Me for Hours Without Explanation. They Won't Tell Me Why.
CBP claims dictatorial powers over Americans coming home. A big part of that is hiding information.
Border Agents Searched His Phone 5 Times Without a Warrant. He's Asking the Supreme Court To Put a Stop to It.
How many warrantless cellphone searches does it take to change border policy?
Flock Safety's New Privacy Rules Do Little To Ease Concerns Over ALPR Surveillance
The company’s attempts to protect Americans’ privacy “will do nothing to protect innocent people from warrantless mass surveillance,” says an Institute for Justice attorney.
Airports Are ICE's Latest Target, Raising 4th Amendment Concerns From Airlines
An apparent surge of ICE arrests in airport terminals has created viral videos and questions over ICE's authority to board planes without judicial warrants.
How Flock Camera Defenders Are Missing the Point
Robby Soave and Amber Duke attack The Free Press' latest attempt to defend Flock cameras.
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.
ICE Is Shredding the Bill of Rights. Defending That Isn't Conservative.
Constitutional limits on federal authority should not be partisan matters.
Chicago Homeowner Sues Border Cops for Warrantless Raid
Will they be held responsible for the illegal search and the damage to his property?
Records Show the Government Illegally Surveilled James Comey and Confirm the Absurdity of Its Case Against Him
The Secret Service asserted a nonexistent "emergency" to track Comey's cellphone, and the FBI's evidence falls far short of proving his seashell picture was a crime.
Border Agents Can Lie To Search Your Phone, but Wiping Your Own Data Could Land You in Prison
The government is charging Samuel Tunick for telling them a code that would erase all the data on his phone—after they tried to take it on false pretenses.
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.
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.
