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Sep 3, 2024 | 
eff.org | Brendan Gilligan |Saira Hussain |Jennifer Lynch
The Constitution prohibits dragnet device searches, especially when those searches are designed to uncover political speech, EFF explained in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The case, Armendariz v.
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Jul 18, 2024 | 
people.com | Jennifer Lynch |James Mercadante
Sen. Ted Kennedy (center) leaves the courthouse after pleading guilty in the deadly Chappaquiddick crash. Photo: Ted Dully/The Boston Globe via Getty Every July, the anniversary of the tragic 1969 Chappaquiddick incident reminds the world of late senator Ted Kennedy's most damaging scandal.
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May 21, 2024 | 
mtstandard.com | Jennifer Lynch
The recent outcomes of school levy and bond elections were extremely disappointing across our state. It's a stark reminder of the pressing need for legislative action to ensure our schools receive the funding that our children deserve. It's crystal clear: If we genuinely value public education, it's time for the legislature to step up to the plate. Continually subjecting our school districts and local taxpayers to the uncertainty of annual funding referendums is unfair and unsustainable.
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Dec 13, 2023 | 
eff.org | Jennifer Lynch
Google announced this week that it will be making several important changes to the way it handles users’ “Location History” data. These changes would appear to make it much more difficult—if not impossible—for Google to provide mass location data in response to a geofence warrant, a change we’ve been asking Google to implement for years.
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Oct 16, 2023 | 
eff.org | Jennifer Lynch |Andrew Crocker
Today, the Colorado Supreme Court became the first state supreme court in the country to address the constitutionality of a keyword warrant—a digital dragnet tool that allows law enforcement to identify everyone who searched the internet for a specific term or phrase. In a weak and ultimately confusing opinion, the court upheld the warrant, finding the police relied on it in good faith. EFF filed two amicus briefs and was heavily involved in the case. The case is People v.
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Sep 5, 2023 | 
eff.org | Jennifer Lynch
Over the last 10+ years, Montana has, with little fanfare or national attention, steadily pushed to protect its residents’ privacy interests through sensible laws that recognize the unique threats posed by new technologies. Now Montana has passed one of the nation’s most protective consumer genetic privacy laws—the Genetic Information Privacy Act. Could this law and the state’s bipartisan approach become a model for the rest of the country? 2013 is a good starting point for this story.
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Jul 26, 2023 | 
eff.org | Jennifer Lynch
ContentsIntroductionI. How Genetic Genealogy Searches WorkII. Law Enforcement Use of Genetic Genealogy Services A. Comparing Genetic Genealogy Searches with Traditional Criminal DNA Searches B. How Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) Searches WorkIII. Regulation is MinimalIV. FGG Can Both Misidentify Suspects and Exonerate Wrongfully Convicted PeopleV. Discovery and Building a Record in FGG CasesVI. Fourth Amendment Challenges in Cases Involving FGG A.
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Apr 24, 2023 | 
eff.org | Jennifer Lynch
The California Court of Appeal has held that a geofence warrant seeking information on all devices located within several densely-populated areas in Los Angeles violated the Fourth Amendment. This is the first time an appellate court in the United States has reviewed a geofence warrant. The case is People v. Meza, and EFF filed an amicus brief and jointly argued the case before the court.
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Feb 6, 2023 | 
homelandsecuritynewswire.com | Jennifer Lynch
SURVEILLANCEEFF Files Amicus Briefs in Two Important Geofence Search Warrant CasesPublished 6 February 2023Unlike traditional warrants for electronic records, a geofence warrant doesn’t start with a particular suspect or even a device or account; instead police request data on every device in a given geographic area during a designated time period, regardless of whether the device owner has any connection to the crime under investigation.
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Jan 31, 2023 | 
eff.org | Jennifer Lynch
Should the police be able to identify everyone who was in a busy metropolitan area, just because a crime occurred there? In two amicus briefs just filed in appellate courts, we argue that’s a clearly unconstitutional search.[1]The two cases are People v. Meza, in the California Court of Appeal, and United States v. Chatrie, in the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
