Archive for the 'Police State' Category
$1400 Device Can Cause LTE Mobile Phones to Use Compromised 2G Networks
March 13th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Phones now operate on more sophisticated 3G and 4G (also known as LTE) networks. In theory, IMSI catchers can pinpoint only the location of these phones, not listen to calls or read texts. But none of that matters if the IMSI catcher in question can just knock a phone call back down to […]
The Crime You Have Not Yet Committed
March 8th, 2016Precrime (today usually spelled “pre-crime”) is a term coined by science fiction author Philip K. Dick. It is increasingly used in academic literature to describe and criticise the tendency in criminal justice systems to focus on crimes not yet committed. Pre-crime has been defined as ‘substantive coercive state interventions targeted at non-imminent crimes’. Pre-crime intervenes […]
No, Turning On Your Phone Is Not Consenting to Being Tracked by Police
March 6th, 2016Via: The Intercept: The Maryland Court of Special Appeals on Wednesday upheld a historic decision by a state trial court that the warrantless use of cell-site simulators, or Stingrays, violates the Fourth Amendment. The trial court had suppressed evidence obtained by the warrantless use of a Stingray — the first time any court in the […]
Houston Man Arrested by Seven U.S. Marshals For Unpaid $1,500 Student Loan from 1987
February 19th, 2016Via: NY Daily News: Seven U.S. Marshals armed with automatic weapons arrested a Texas man for not paying a $1,500 student loan from three decades ago, he claims. … Aker said he was put in the back of a truck and placed in a cell at the federal building in downtown Houston. Later, he was […]
‘Let Us Inspect Your Home For Dirty Dishes – Or We’ll Get A Warrant,’ City Says
February 16th, 2016Via: Off The Grid News: A Minnesota city is asking a court for a warrant to enter a rental home in order to check to see if the place is clean. If the city wins the case, then inspectors apparently would be able to enter such a building anytime they wish. The renters and tenants […]
“No Cost” License Plate Readers Are Turning Texas Police into Mobile Debt Collectors and Data Miners
February 1st, 2016Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: Vigilant Solutions, one of the country’s largest brokers of vehicle surveillance technology, is offering a hell of a deal to law enforcement agencies in Texas: a whole suite of automated license plate reader (ALPR) equipment and access to the company’s massive databases and analytical tools—and it won’t cost the agency a […]
California Police Used Stingrays in Planes to Spy on Phones
January 27th, 2016Via: Wired: The government’s use of a controversial invasive technology for tracking phones just got a little more controversial. The Anaheim Police Department has acknowledged in new documents that it uses surveillance devices known as Dirtboxes—plane-mounted stingrays—on aircraft flying above the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, one of the most popular tourist […]
Not The Onion: Lamb Chop Weight Enforcers Want Warrantless Access to Australians’ Metadata
January 20th, 2016Via: Guardian: If you are in the business of selling lamb chops, make sure you are weighing them properly: the National Measurement Institute wants warrantless access to Australians’ metadata to help them hunt down supermarkets skimping on portions. The NMI is one of 61 agencies that has applied to the attorney general, George Brandis, to […]
Cops Say They Can Access Encrypted Emails on So-Called PGP BlackBerrys
January 13th, 2016Via: Vice: Dutch investigators have confirmed to Motherboard that they are able to read encrypted messages sent on PGP BlackBerry phones—custom, security-focused BlackBerry devices that come complete with an encrypted email feature, and which reportedly may be used by organized criminal groups. “We are capable of obtaining encrypted data from BlackBerry PGP devices,” Tuscha Essed, […]
Your Threat Score
January 10th, 2016Via: Washington Post: As a national debate has played out over mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, a new generation of technology such as the Beware software being used in Fresno has given local law enforcement officers unprecedented power to peer into the lives of citizens. Police officials say such tools can provide critical […]
