House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program

The US House of Representatives voted on Friday to extend the Section 702 spy program. It passed without an amendment that would have required the FBI to obtain a warrant to access Americans’ information...

NSA Buying Bulk Surveillance Data on Americans without a Warrant

It finally admitted to buying bulk data on Americans from data brokers, in response to a query by Senator Weyden. This is almost certainly illegal, although the NSA maintains that it is legal until its told otherwise. Some news articles...

Police Get Medical Records without a Warrant

More unconstrained surveillance: Lawmakers noted the pharmacies policies for releasing medical records in a letter dated Tuesday to the Department of Health and Human Services HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. The letter--signed by Sen. Ron Wyden D-Ore., Rep. Pramila Jayapal D-Wash., and Rep. Sara...

Ring Gives Videos to Police without a Warrant or User Consent

Amazon has revealed that it gives police videos from its Ring doorbells without a warrant and without user consent. Ring recently revealed how often the answer to that question has been yes. The Amazon company responded to an inquiry from US Senator Ed Markey D-Mass., confirming that there have...

US Secret Service used ‘Locate X’ to track user location without warrant

By Zara Khan Locate X collects location data from smartphone apps. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: US Secret Service used Locate X to track user location without warrant...

What Happens When You Remove a Police-Installed GPS Tracker

The Supreme Court ruled that cops need a warrant to attach a GPS device to your car. But if you find one, can you remove it?...

Privacy Advocates Say Kelsey Smith Act Gives Police Too Much Power

The delicate balancing act between security and privacy is once again being tested. A bill making its way through Congress seeks to allow law enforcement to more easily uncover location data for cell phones from mobile carriers. The Kelsey Smith Act H.R. 5983 and S. 2973 would allow police and...

Rule 41 — FBI Gets Expanded Power to Hack any Computer in the World

Hacking multiple computers across the world just got easier for the United States intelligence and law enforcement agencies from today onwards. The changes introduced to the Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by the United States Department of Justice came into effect on Thursday,...

FBI Pleads For Crypto Subversion in Congressional Budget Hearing

In a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing this morning on the FBI budget for the upcoming fiscal year, FBI Director James Comey was again critical of new encryption features from Apple and Google that he claims would make it impossible for law enforcement to access the contents of mobile...

Inside the Decision to Shut Down Silent Mail

Silent Circle’s decision to shut down its Silent Mail email service may have come quickly yesterday, and the timing of the announcement admittedly was prompted by Lavabit’s decision to suspend operations hours before. But the seeds for this decision may have been sown long before Edward Snowden,...

EFF: Forced Decryption Violates Fifth Amendment

If the government would like to force Jeffrey Feldman to decrypt the contents of the hard-drives and Dell computer found in his apartment, then they must offer him immunity and cannot use any of the information found on the devices as part of their case against him. That is what the Electronic...

Handling of Encryption, Tor Exposed in Leaked NSA Documents

New top-secret NSA documents released by the Guardian UK newspaper reveal that the United States’ top spy agency can retain encrypted communications for as long as it takes analysts to decrypt the secret messages—even if they’re collected by chance and without a warrant. In addition, the document...

Google ordered to hand over sensitive users details to FBI without a warrant

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday has ordered the Google to hand over customer details to FBI without a warrant. FBI counter terrorism agents began issuing the secret letters, which don't require a judge's approval, after Congress...

Google ordered to hand over sensitive users details to FBI without a warrant

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday has ordered the Google to hand over customer details to FBI without a warrant. FBI counter terrorism agents began issuing the secret letters, which don't require a judge's approval, after Congress...

Justice Department Backs Closing Loophole For Government E-mail Snooping

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday joined a chorus of privacy advocates supporting changes to a 1986 law that currently allows the government to review some emails without a warrant. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act was created before commercial e-mail existed, let alone became a...

Two Texas Bills Could Shape Mobile Privacy

Two bills introduced in Texas this week could refine mobile privacy in the state and tweak how law enforcement can request sensitive information from cell phones going forward. A press release from the Texas Electronic Privacy Coalition TxEPC credits Bryan Hughes, a Republican from the town of...

Senator Seeks More Info On DOJ Location Tracking Practices

Senator Al Franken D-MN is demanding answers to questions about the U.S. Department of Justice DOJ practice of gathering data from wireless providers in order to monitor individuals’ movements using mobile phone location data. Franken released a copy of a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on...

US Supreme Court Ends Warrantless GPS Tracking

In a decision that was closeley watched by civil liberties group and the technology industry, the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that GPS tracking devices constitute a “search” and that authorities must obtain a warrant before placing one on a suspect’s vehicle. In a rare 9-0 vote, the Court...