Category Archives: Digital Searches

Army: Remotely wiping seized cell phone and watch tampered with search

The prosecution established defendant interfered with a search by remotely wiping her cell phone and watch when she knew they were in the possession of CID and to be searched in a manslaughter investigation. United States v. Strong, 2023 CCA … Continue reading

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MSNBC: In post-Roe America, your cell phone is now a reproductive privacy risk

MSNBC: In post-Roe America, your cell phone is now a reproductive privacy risk by Tiffany C. Li (“Now that Roe v. Wade has fallen, states that choose to criminalize abortion can start buying and subpoenaing consumer data.”) WaPo: With Roe … Continue reading

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Nothing online is anonymous; especially Zoom

There’s no Fourth Amendment issue raised here, but this is a particularly ugly child pornography case involving live child rape broadcast by Zoom. Police gathered sign-in and logs from Zoom used to share the child pornography. It was captured first … Continue reading

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EFF: So-called “Consent Searches” Harm Our Digital Rights

EFF: So-called “Consent Searches” Harm Our Digital Rights by Adam Schwartz:

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Geofence warrants can be used to identify those who invaded the Capitol, not to mention Facebook warrants

The government’s prior use of geofence warrants were a prelude to this: With the invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday, the government now can attempt to locate all the cell phones inside the Capitol to identify those to potentially charge. … Continue reading

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WY: Questions about travel plans are allowed to put trip in “context”

Basic questions about where defendant and his passenger were going were reasonable to put their trip into “context.” That led to reasonable suspicion. Pryce v. State, 2020 WY 151, 2020 Wyo. LEXIS 178 (Dec. 16, 2020). (And one could ask: … Continue reading

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Cal.4: Warrantless seizure of def’s dashcam was reasonable on exigent circumstances; three days to get a SW wasn’t unreasonable

Defendant was convicted of reckless driving with an accident. His dashcam would have a recording of it. The dashcam was reasonably seized without a warrant on exigent circumstances. And, it wasn’t unreasonable to wait three days before getting a search … Continue reading

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Wired: Hackers Can Use Lasers to ‘Speak’ to Your Amazon Echo or Google Home

Wired: Hackers Can Use Lasers to ‘Speak’ to Your Amazon Echo or Google Home by Andy Greenberg (“By pointing lasers tuned to a precise frequency at a smart assistant, researchers could force it to unlock cars, open garage doors, and … Continue reading

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EFF: Seventh Circuit Dodges an Opportunity to Protect Travelers from Invasive Border Searches of Electronic Devices

EFF: Seventh Circuit Dodges an Opportunity to Protect Travelers from Invasive Border Searches of Electronic Devices by Saira Hussain & Sophia Cope:

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