Showing posts with label warrantless search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warrantless search. Show all posts

Ancestry.Com Is Now Sharing Your DNA With The Police

by Joshua Krause.    The police state just took a very dark turn. We all know that private corporations tend to side with the government on privacy issues, and they’re more than willing to hand over our information when the government asks for it. Google and Facebook are pretty well-known examples of that, and they’ve been doing it for so long   ... MORE

Federal Court Deals A Huge Blow To Cellphone Privacy

More warrantless searches for Americans ahead.        The government doesn't need a warrant to search cellphone tower location records, a federal appeals court in Atlanta has ruled. In a potentially wide-ranging ruling, the court said that because cellphone owners technically "volunteer" their location to providers when they       ... MORE

Supremes Rule 6-3 That Police Cannot Prolong Traffic Stops In Order To Instigate A Search By A Drug-Sniffing Dog

Fourth Amendment holds on by narrow margin.  Rejecting the idea that some violations of the Constitution are insignificant, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that police may not extend the time needed to conduct an ordinary traffic stop in order to subject the vehicle and its occupants to an examination by a drug-detecting dog unless   ... MORE

Texas Knows Sobriety Checkpoints Are Unconstitutional

by Lily Dane.        Sobriety checkpoints (or "DUI checkpoints") are roadblocks that law enforcement officers set up on roads for the purpose of catching people driving under the influence of alcohol. Some of us also think they are used to generate revenue for police departments and the State, since the stops often result in citizens being slapped     ... MORE

California Bill Requires Warrant For Stingray Searches

by Cyrus Farivar.   A toothless Fourth Amendment makes it necessary. A California state bill that would require a warrant to access all kinds of digital data passed its first hurdle after being approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. Among other sweeping new requirements to enhance digital privacy, the bill notably imposes  ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Amendment By Consent

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?   Here is a short pop quiz. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress earlier this month about the parameters of the secret negotiations between the United States and Iran over nuclear weapons and economic sanctions, how did he know what the negotiators were considering? Israel is not a party to    ... MORE

Police State Update - Warrantless Searches: Chicago Cops Fight To Keep Cellphone Tracking Technology Secret

by Frank Main.   The Chicago Police Department is fighting to keep a lid on how, when and where officers have used covert cellphone tracking systems — with an outside law firm billing the city more than $120,000 to battle a lawsuit that seeks those secret details. Since 2005, the department has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on       ... MORE

Should Hotel Registries Be Open To Warrantless Searches?

by Rory Little.  How does requiring a warrant interfere with surprise police searches of hotel guest registers? The first case argued Tuesday morning, City of Los Angeles v. Patel, was about whether a Los Angeles ordinance that requires motel operators to allow the police to examine hotel guest registers, without seeking a warrant first, is     ... MORE

Questions Over Missing Cash After Warrantless Search

by Kumi Tucker.     A local attorney says Albany police broke the law when they went into her client's apartment without a warrant.  Her client says he is now missing thousands of dollars in cash.  Attorney Cheryl Coleman's client, Joshua Horne, was arrested on a drug charge in June. She says police took his keys and then used them to get    See video  ... MORE

Scott Shackford: One Way To Deal With DUI Checkpoints

Police aren’t happy about it.   Warren Redlich, back in 2010, was the Libertarian Party candidate for governor of New York (Nick Gillespie even highlighted him on the blog here). Needless to say, he didn’t win. But Redlich is back in the news getting publicity for his method of dealing with police DUI checkpoints in Florida (where he lives now) while     ... MORE

Supreme Court Upholds Auto Stop With No Traffic Violation

by Marjorie Cohn. Ignorance of the law is no excuse -- that is, unless you're a police officer.  For the first time, in December, the Supreme Court upheld a traffic stop even where there was no traffic violation. The court, in Heien v. North Carolina, continued its steady erosion of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and    ... MORE

DUI Checkpoints Could Be A Thing Of The Past In N.D.

by Nicole Johnson.    If only the Fourth Amendment protected us from warrantless searches. DUI checkpoints in North Dakota could soon be a thing of the past. Sobriety checkpoints are used in North Dakota by police to deter drunk driving. But, lawmakers in Bismarck are talking about getting rid of them, saying there needs to be a reason to     ... MORE

ND Legislator Calls For End Of Sobriety Checkpoints

by Karee Magee.  Warrantless searches are an inefficient infringement. A bill that would eliminate sobriety checkpoints in North Dakota will appear before the Judiciary Committee Monday. House Bill 1084 says law enforcement would need reasonable suspicion before halting a vehicle. Sponsor, Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, said the bill questions    ... MORE

Police Union: Don't Mess With No-Knock Warrants

by Bernard Watson. Carrie Mills is a retired Atlanta Police officer with 30 years on the job - primarily in APD's drug unit. Mills is now a union rep for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers. She considers herself an expert on search warrants, particularly no knock warrants, which allows officers to enter a structure without knocking first. Mills says  ... MORE

Federal Court Upholds Unconstitutional Car Search

No warrant required. Text of the Fourth Amendment. A federal judge decided earlier this month to accept evidence from an automobile search that a state court magistrate had declared unlawful. US District Judge Jerome B. Simandle insisted that there was nothing wrong in accepting the evidence deemed tainted by the New Jersey Superior Court.   ... MORE

Brad Health: New Police Radars Can 'See' Inside Homes

Cops get new warrantless search tool.      At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance. Those agencies, including    ... MORE