Skip navigation

Search

28 results
AI Honeypots: Police Are Using Chatbots to Pose as Teens and Sex Workers to Entrap Suspects by Michael Thompson The surveillance state has a new tool in its arsenal that takes advantage of advances in AI large language models. Only, this chatbot’s conversations could land people in prison. The product …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from CLN August, 2025
Ninth Circuit: ‘Dominion and Control’ Provision of Search Warrant for Suspect’s Computer That Lacked Temporal or Other Limitation Constitutes General Warrant by Anthony Accurso The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington’s denial of a defendant’s motion …
A Black Box, a Guilty Plea, and an Uncertain Truth by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson In forensic technology, the term “black box” has gained prominence. It describes a system whose inner workings remain opaque—an output emerges, but how it is produced eludes the user. Such black-box algorithms underpin …
Article • April 15, 2025 • from CLN May, 2025
NYPD Responds to 911 Calls with Drones by James Mills by James Mills The NYPD now has Drone First Responders (“DFRs”) and has begun deploying them in response to 911 calls. On Nov. 13, 2024, the Mayor’s office announced the new program: 10 drones, deployed across three boroughs—Brooklyn, the Bronx, …
Article • March 15, 2025 • from CLN April, 2025
Government Hacks Computers to Thwart Hackers by James Mills by James Mills Did you know the federal government has the ability to access a virtually unlimited range of computers—including laptops, workstations, and library terminals—if it so desires? This revelation comes after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) announced in a …
Law Enforcement Obscures Use of Facial Recognition Technology by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford According to an investigative report conducted by the Washington Post and follow-up reporting on TechDirt.com, police departments nationwide are hiding the fact that they are identifying criminal suspects using facial recognition software. A Washington Post article …
Police Departments Are Now Using AI to Write Reports by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso Axon, a company that makes products (including weapons) and services available to police departments, has begun selling a new product designed to use artificial intelligence (“AI”) to turn bodycam audio into police reports. However, …
Article • February 1, 2025 • from CLN February, 2025
Federal Facial Recognition Technology Fails Again by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson The federal government has again discovered that its use of facial recognition technology (“FRT”) harms Americans. The agencies using the technology are often doing so with little oversight or training, which is what the Government Accountability Office …
Article • February 1, 2025 • from CLN February, 2025
Careful What You Search For by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson Don’t ask Google this simple question: “Are Bengal cats legal in Australia?” That is the gist of an urgent warning on cybersecurity firm Sophos’ website. People who have clicked on the resulting links have had their personal information …
Article • November 1, 2024 • from CLN November, 2024
Filed under: Computer Searches
WhatsApp’s Security Team Identifies Vulnerabilities by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson Metadata is the data that describes data. If you make a phone call, metadata describes that call’s external characteristics: source number, destination number(s), how long the call lasted, etc. Although the metadata does not describe content, it still …
Article • October 1, 2024 • from CLN October, 2024
Cops Want to Use DNA for Facial Recognition by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson Provide a DNA sample, and Parabon NanoLabs’ tech will generate a projected 3D image of a suspect’s face. The process takes advantage of AI trained on the DNA and 3D facial scans of thousands of …
FBI Works to Expand Court Authority for Its Offensive Cyber Operations by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The FBI’s effort to disable an army of zombie computers being used for cyber-crime is pretty mediagenic, but it is the latest step in the DOJ’s plan to render jurisdictional limits on …
Article • May 5, 2023
U.S. Marshals Service’s Secretive Surveillance Unit Still Recovering Months After Ransomware Attack by The U.S. Marshals Service’s electronic surveillance division, which operates in secrecy to track down fugitives, has been struggling to recover from a ransomware attack that occurred over two months ago. The incident highlights the ongoing threat that …
Article • April 9, 2023
Smart Locks Violate Tenants’ Privacy and Provide Valuable Information to Police by by Jordan Arizmendi People are often blindly attracted to the latest form of technology. As long as the contraption makes our lives easier, any invasion of privacy that it might entail is ignored. Smart locks are a perfect …
Article • March 15, 2023 • from CLN April, 2023
Automatic Speaker-Identification System Performs Better Than Humans by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson Many courts cases hinge on whether the voice or voices on a recording belong to a specific speaker, such as the defendant or a witness, who is unknown to the listener. Misidentification of a voice can …
DNA-Based Computer-Generated Mugshots Put Entire Community on Wanted List by Eike Blohm, MD by Eike Blohm, MD Parabon NanoLabs uses DNA from crime scenes to predict the appearance of suspects. A computer-generated mugshot released by the Edmonton Police Service was so generic that thousands of young Black men fit the …
Article • September 15, 2021 • from CLN October, 2021
SCOTUS: ‘Exceeds Authorized Access’ Under the CFAA Means Accessing Areas of Computer That Are Off-Limits on Computer Otherwise Authorized to Access by Douglas Ankney by Doug Ankney The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) held that for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act …
Article • October 16, 2019 • from CLN November, 2019
Ninth Circuit Clarifies When Warrantless Searches of Cellphones at Border Are Reasonable by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has clarified when warrantless searches of cellphones at the border are reasonable. Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) agents discovered nearly 31 pounds of …
Article • June 17, 2019 • from CLN July, 2019
Oregon Supreme Court: State Constitution Requires Warrant to Specify When Internet Searches Occurred by Mark Wilson by Mark Wilson The Supreme Court of Oregon ruled that the Oregon Constitution requires that a warrant to seize and search a computer (and other digital devices) identify the information to be searched for, …
Compelled Decryption Primer by National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Fourth Amendment Center by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Fourth Amendment Center The Supreme Court recognized in Riley v. California that cell phones are unlike other types of physical objects. 134 S.Ct. 2473 (2014). Instead, the Court held, …
Page 1 of 2. | 1 2 | Next »