Privacy, Policing, Technology Issues Intersect In GPS Tracking Arguments to Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument Nov. 8 in a criminal case that some privacy advocates are casting as one of the most important to come before the justices in decades…

No Place to Hide: First Amendment Protection for Location Privacy

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized fundamental rights to speak anonymously and to assemble privately. For those rights to have any meaning, the state cannot know the physical location of U.S. citizens at every moment of every day…

Third Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Cell Location Information Isn’t Tracking Data; Warrant Not Always Needed

A court may not categorize a cell phone as a tracking device as a means to deny a government request under the Stored Communications Act for an ex parte order to a communications service provider to…

BNA INSIGHTS: Quon Case, Technology, and the Legal System: Supreme Court Passes on Sweeping Statement but Raises Key Policy Points

On June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Ontario v. Quon, 560 U.S. ____, 130 S. Ct. 2619 (2010) (9 PVLR 893, 6/21/10),one of the most closely watched employment cases in years. In unanimously holding that a city’s review of an…

Google Sued over Collection of WiFi Data; Separate Court Issues Data Destruction Temporary Restraining Order

Google Inc. is facing mounting legal challenges after its recent admission that it collected location and content data from unsecured wireless computer networks while taking digital photographs for…

House Lawmakers Launch Review of Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Consider Technology, Industry Changes

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties May 5 began a review of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act at a May 5 hearing that could…

Senate, House Approve One-Year Extension of Expiring PATRIOT Act Provisions

The Senate Feb. 24 and the House Feb. 25 approved a one-year extension of provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that were set to expire Feb. 28, including a…

FBI Routinely Circumvented Electronic Communications Privacy Act Protections to Obtain Phone Records, Justice Department Reports

Beginning in 2003, the FBI routinely circumvented and often violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act in making requests to telephone service providers for call records, according to…