"Not content with having a fleet of insecure surveillance drones, the state of Connecticut wants a fleet of insecure weaponized drones. What could possibly go wrong?" Continue reading →
"That fancy new HP EliteBook laptop you just bought? It may be silently recording every keystroke, according to Swiss infosec firm ModZero. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t look like there’s malice here – just staggering incompetence." Continue reading →
"U.S. Customs & Border Protection is becoming more adamant about examining the cell phones of some arriving travelers – including U.S. citizens – and now the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging that practice. The ACLU has taken up the case of a U.S. artist named Aaron Gach, who returned to the U.S. at San Francisco International from an exhibition in Europe, and was pulled aside by CBP officers and ordered to unlock his iPhone for a search of its contents. Gach resisted, but finally gave in when he was told that if he didn’t, CBP would keep his phone for an indefinite period." Continue reading →
"Middle-school student Zachary Bowlin didn't bring a gun to school. He didn't say the word gun. He didn't do anything wrong, or dangerous, to merit a 10-day suspension from Edgewood Middle School in Trenton, Ohio. Bowlin 'liked' a picture of a gun on Instagram. That's it. He didn't do this during school hours, with school resources, or on school property." Continue reading →
"After New Jersey state troopers arrested Rebecca Musarra for remaining silent, they informed her, 'You have the right to remain silent.' That should have been a clue that something was amiss with their legal justification for hauling her off to jail." Continue reading →
"The San Diego District Attorney (DA) seized all of the family’s money from their bank accounts on February 2, 2016, following a raid on James Slatic’s legal medical marijuana business. Although no one has been charged with any crime, the DA used civil forfeiture laws to seize more than $55,000 from James’ personal bank account, more than $34,000 from his wife, Annette, and more than $5,600 each from their teenage daughters Lily and Penny, who had saved the money for college. Judge Ipema’s order requires the DA to return all $100,693.85 to the Slatics." Continue reading →
"The Justice Department is prosecuting a woman who laughed during a Senate hearing to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general. I can sympathize with her somewhat absurd plight because I was once tossed out of the press box in the Supreme Court for laughing at the wrong time." Continue reading →
"The unidentified attackers exploited weaknesses in Signalling System No. 7, a telephony signaling language that more than 800 telecommunications companies around the world use to ensure their networks interoperate. SS7, as the protocol is known, makes it possible for a person in one country to send text messages to someone in another country. It also allows phone calls to go uninterrupted when the caller is traveling on a train. The same functionality can be used to eavesdrop on conversations, track geographic whereabouts, or intercept text messages." Continue reading →
"In its latest John Doe summons, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is requiring American Express to send account information of Dutch residents with credit or debit cards linked to bank accounts outside the Netherlands to U.S. tax authorities. The IRS had requested the information in cooperation with the Dutch government as part of an investigation to determine whether Dutch citizens living outside the Netherlands are complying with tax laws." Continue reading →
"Travel is not an inherently suspicious activity. It’s the exercise of a Constitutional and human right, and cannot in itself be the basis for warrant checks." Continue reading →