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How the Backdoor Loophole Enables the FBI to Search Your Communications Without a Warrant
by Michael Dean Thompson
The 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (“FAA”) Section 702 (codified as 50 U.S.C. § 1881A) exists to facilitate the capture of the communications of foreign actors as they pass through American facilities and hardware. However, in the process, the communications of American citizens are being captured ...
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More from this issue:
- Police Misconduct Reform: Forcing Police Officers to Have ‘Skin in the Game’ by Creating Financial Incentives with Insurance Premiums, by David Reutter
- Sixth Circuit: Sentence Procedurally Unreasonable Where District Court Failed to Explain Decision to Impose Consecutive Sentences and Substantively Unreasonable Where Court Improperly Weighed Sentencing Factors, by Douglas Ankney
- Closed Circuit Cameras: Not the Objective Lenses We’re Told, by Benjamin Tschirhart
- Database Containing 450,000 Records of NYPD Misconduct Now Available, by Douglas Ankney
- Ninth Circuit Announces District Courts Have Discretion to Consider Non-Retroactive Changes in Post-Sentencing Decisional Law in Assessing ‘Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons’ for Sentence Reduction, by Douglas Ankney
- New Tool Used by Police to Improve Interviewing Skills, by Jordan Arizmendi
- New York Court of Appeals Suppresses Evidence Because Police Lacked Reasonable Suspicion Necessary for Level 3 Stop and Frisk Under De Bour Framework, by Richard Resch
- Kansas Supreme Court: Defendants May File a Motion to Correct Illegal Sentence in Appellate Court While on Direct Review, by Douglas Ankney
- U.S. Sentencing Commission Publishes Compassionate Release Datafile for Fiscal Years 2020-2022, by Casey Bastian
- SCOTUS Announces Pending Investigation or Proceeding Is Not Required for an Offense to be ‘Related to Obstruction of Justice’ and Qualify as ‘Aggravated Felony’ in Removal of Noncitizen, by Douglas Ankney
- We’re All Suspects in a DNA Lineup, Waiting to be Matched with a Crime, by Nisha Whitehead, John W. Whitehead
- California Supreme Court Vacates Second Degree Murder Conviction Where Jury Instructed on Now Invalid Felony-Murder Theory, by Douglas Ankney
- U.S. Supreme Court Announces § 2255(e)’s ‘Saving Clause’ Does Not Enable Prisoners to File § 2241 Petition Based on AEDPA’s Rule Against Second or Successive § 2255 Motions, by Douglas Ankney
- ‘Data for Defenders’: Valuable New Resource for Defense Counsel and Pro Se Litigants, by Jordan Arizmendi
- Maryland Supreme Court: Firearms Identification Methodology Does Not Provide Reliable Basis for Expert’s Unqualified Opinion That Bullets Recovered at Crime Scene Were Fired From Defendant’s Gun, by Douglas Ankney
- California Court of Appeal: Trial Court Abused Discretion in Failing to Recall Terminally Ill Prisoner’s Sentence Following CDCR’s Recommendation for Compassionate Release, by Douglas Ankney
- American Bar Association’s 2023 Plea Bargain Task Force Report, by Carlo Difundo
- Fourth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Habeas Petition Where District Court Failed to Review Magistrate’s Report De Novo After Characterizing Petitioner’s Objections as ‘Attempt to Reargue Case’, by Douglas Ankney
- D.C. Circuit Orders New Trial Due to Brady Violations Involving Source of Information, Not Withholding of Information Itself, by Richard Resch
- Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Holds Granting Motion for New Trial Because ‘Verdict Is Contrary to Law and Evidence,’ Without Further Explanation, Bars Retrial, by Matthew Clarke
- Third Circuit Vacates Possession of Cocaine Conviction Due to Insufficient Evidence to Support Weight Element, by David Reutter
- How the Backdoor Loophole Enables the FBI to Search Your Communications Without a Warrant, by Michael Thompson
- Ninth Circuit Announces No Deference to Application Note 1 to Guideline § 4B1.2(b) Because It Impermissibly Expands Definition of ‘Controlled Substance Offense’, by Douglas Ankney
- Third Circuit Vacates Denial of First Step Act Relief Because District Court’s Failure to Expressly Identify Which § 841(b) Provision Supported Sentence Precludes Appellate Review, by Douglas Ankney
- Digital Voiceprinting Is Not Ready for Court, by Anthony Accurso
- Oregon Supreme Court Clarifies Mansor Ruling for Search Warrants for Digital Data and Announces Framework for Suppression When Warrant Contains Both Constitutional and Unconstitutional Search Categories, by Anthony Accurso
- News in Brief
More from Michael Thompson:
- Ninth Circuit Reinstates Religious Exercise Claim from Arizona “Christian-Israelite” Prisoner Denied Passover Meal, June 1, 2025
- A Black Box, a Guilty Plea, and an Uncertain Truth, April 15, 2025
- Younger Generations Lead Decline in U.S. Support for Death Penalty, April 15, 2025
- The FBI’s Encrypted Phone Sting, April 15, 2025
- FBI Pressured Forensic Science Group to Censor Critical Workshops, Emails Reveal, March 15, 2025
- Study Confirms New York City’s ShotSpotter Deployment Was a Costly Misstep, March 15, 2025
- How Online Behavioral Ads Fuel Mass Surveillance, March 15, 2025
- Can Comics Help Juries Understand Complex DNA Evidence?, March 15, 2025
- Reining in Police Monitoring of Social Media, Feb. 15, 2025
- Study: DNA Transfer in Social Settings, Feb. 15, 2025
More from these topics:
- The FBI’s Encrypted Phone Sting, April 15, 2025. Cell Searches, FBI, Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance.
- FBI Pressured Forensic Science Group to Censor Critical Workshops, Emails Reveal, March 15, 2025. FBI, Forensic Sciences, Education and Vocational Skills/Training.
- The FBI Really Doesn’t Want the Public to Know About This Surveillance Device, Sept. 1, 2024. FBI, Police State-Surveillance, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI").
- Push Notifications: Yet Another Secret Surveillance Technique, Sept. 1, 2024. Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Electronic Surveillance.
- FBI Encourages Use of Controversial Surveillance Program Despite Misuse, Aug. 1, 2024. FBI, Electronic Surveillance, Police/Govt Misconduct.
- Big Money and Massive Surveillance: The Finance Industry’s Partnership With Federal Law Enforcement, Aug. 1, 2024. FBI, Police State-Surveillance, Money Laundering/Structuring, International Transportation of Money.
- DOJ Creates Database to Track Federal Law Enforcement Officers Accused of Misconduct, June 15, 2024. Police Misconduct, Databases, FBI, Police/Govt Misconduct.
- Stinging Back: Resisting Government Surveillance of Cellphones, May 15, 2024. Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Site-Location Records, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Stingray, Electronic Surveillance.
- Cellular Roaming’s Inadequate Security, May 15, 2024. Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Electronic Surveillance.
- Googling Your Privacy, May 15, 2024. Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Cell Site Location Information ("CSLI"), Electronic Surveillance.