It’s 9am on October 4, and beneath central London’s grey skies, environmental and social justice activist Kate Wilson stands outside the imposing, jagged gates of the Royal Courts of Justice, awaiting the start of an extremely important Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing. She’s joined by her legal team, a colorful legion of supporters, and numerous journalists … Read more
ORLANDO, FLA. – Three cameras in public spaces are being used to test an Amazon-made facial recognition tool on more than a half dozen officers and the tool is merely in a pilot-program stage, a Florida police chief said Thursday. Orlando Police Chief John Mina said that the officers volunteered to test the technology with … Read more
Muslim leaders and their lawyers say a settlement of legal claims that the New York City Police Department illegally spied on Muslims empowers them to prevent future abuse. The deal was announced Thursday by the city and the Islamic community. Baher Azmy, legal director of Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), told a news conference that … Read more
An Aurora police officer who was fired for secretly installing cameras he later used to spy on his ex-wife should get his job back, according to a court document filed by the police union. An independent arbitrator ruled that Daniel Wagner should have only been suspended for one year over the cameras, which included one … Read more
The NYPD continues to extend a middle finger to every entity that isn’t the NYPD. The department’s long history of doing everything it can to thwart public records requesters has been discussed here several times. It’s not on much better terms with its oversight, which it routinely ignores when directed to do something about its … Read more
The cellphones we carry with us constantly are the most perfect surveillance device ever invented, and our laws haven’t caught up to that reality. That might change soon. This week, the Supreme Court will hear a case with profound implications on your security and privacy in the coming years. The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unlawful … Read more
The NYPD is one of many police departments across the country quietly using a highly secretive military grade technology that can track the whereabouts of suspects by using their cell phone signals. Civil liberties and privacy groups are increasingly raising objections to the suitcase-sized devices known as StingRays or cell site simulators that can sweep … Read more
Police in the “Empire State” of New York have reportedly proposed the implementation of a new device that would be able to detect when drivers are using their cell phones. The device has become known as the “textalyzer,” and although it will not be ready for several months, New York drivers can likely expect to … Read more
Police in California are using state of the art surveillance tools to determine an individual’s “threat score” based on social media posts and other public records. According to the Washington Post, the software is being used by the Fresno police department at a $600,000 surveillance center in the San Joaquin Valley, and can analyze billions … Read more
It looks like cell phone privacy really is a thing of the past as New York prepares to pass a bill allowing police to steal people’s cell phone data. A bill currently working its way through the New York state legislature that would allow cops to search through drivers’ cell phones following traffic incidents, even … Read more
Adam Klasfeld | Courthouse News Service MANHATTAN (CN) — Amid reports on federal monitoring of protesters, two prominent civil-rights groups filed a lawsuit demanding that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security cough up records on their surveillance of Movement for Black Lives activists. Color of Change, a California-based nonprofit, and the New York-based Center … Read more
Social media giants gave data belonging to the accounts of African-American activists to a firm hired by police to track their whereabouts and planned events. Whitney Webb | True Activist Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been providing users’ data to a controversial social media monitoring company working on behalf of police surveillance programs. The information … Read more