While police must have a warrant to search someone’s phone in the U.S. — even after that person has been arrested — what can law enforcement do with gadgets seized at the border? For one thing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its officers are limited to searching phone content that is saved directly to the device, and not on the cloud — including social media. [More]
law enforcement
As Opioid Hospitalizations Soar, Report Claims Imprisoning Drug Offenders Doesn’t Affect Overdoses Or Use
By 6.20.17
Since 2005, the rate of opioid-related emergency room visits has doubled and hospitalizations are up 64%. At the same time, many states are sending more people to prison for drug-related offenses. However, a new analysis contends that there is no apparent link between drug imprisonments and reining in the problems associated with the ongoing epidemic. [More]
Uber Promises To Stop Using No-Longer-Secret Tool To Avoid The Law
By 3.9.17
After being outed for using a tool, dubbed “Greyball,” to avoid being caught by police and taxi regulators in cities where it wasn’t authorized to operate, Uber has promised to put an end to the controversial practice. [More]
Uber Used Secret Tool To Avoid Regulators & Law Enforcement Worldwide
By 3.3.17
Uber has had this habit of deploying its app and drivers cities where, strictly speaking, using Uber may not yet be legal. You’d think it would be easy for law enforcement in those cities to nab rogue Ubers: Just use the app to hail a car and arrest or cite whoever shows up. However, it looks like Uber figured out how to sidestep these snares. [More]
Taco Bell Employee Fired After Denying Service To Sheriff’s Deputies
By 7.18.16
A cashier at an Alabama Taco Bell was fired after two Sheriff’s deputies were refused service on Saturday night. [More]
FDA And International Enforcement Superfriends Take Down Online Peddlers Of Unapproved Drugs
By 6.10.16
Hundreds of millions of years ago, the seven continents that we know today were one big land glob called Pangaea. When choosing a name for an international operation to nab sellers of unapproved drugs, regulators and law enforcement agencies took this idea of one united world and called their project “Pangea,” or the International Internet Week of Action. Led by Interpol, agencies took action to look for unapproved drugs passing in the mail. [More]
Someone Is Using Fake Parking Tickets To “Rickroll” North Carolina Drivers
By 3.7.16
When you get a parking ticket, you’re probably ready to curse The Man and all the rules he uses to cage you and bring you down. But if you recently got a parking citation in Asheville, N.C., you might be chuckling instead, after The Man turns out to be Rick Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” and you realize you’ve been “Rickrolled.” [More]
Controversial Cybersecurity Bill Makes It Into Omnibus, Will Basically Be Law Any Minute Now
By 12.18.15
We are rapidly running out of 2015 left to spend, and so the two houses of Congress have been racing to pass an omnibus spending bill that will keep the government funded and the lights on. Because that bill is a must-pass piece of legislation, all kinds of crap has been added, taken away, and snuck back in as we come down to the wire. Among the other bills that have been tacked on is a controversial piece of cybersecurity legislation that has privacy and consumer advocates worried all around. [More]
If You Dropped Your Cocaine At This Super Dollar, You’re Not Getting It Back
By 2.18.15
Usually, if you drop something while shopping and another shopper doesn’t walk off with it, it ends up in the store’s lost and found. That is not the case for an item that someone dropped at a Super Dollar discount grocery store in Virginia, a bag of cocaine. Local cops have put a call out in case the owner wants to reveal himself or herself and…definitely not get their coke back. [More]
Oops: Cops Distributing Spyware To Families As “Internet Safety” Tool
By 10.2.14
Over the last couple of decades, internet safety has become as much if not more of a concern for many parents and families as physical safety. To help, many local police departments have given out free safety software to families as “the first step” to keeping their children safe online. Sounds great, right? Sure… except that “safety software” is really a keylogger that sends your family’s every word zipping unencrypted over the internet, ripe for anyone to steal. Oops. [More]
Feds To Allow Tech Companies To Provide More Transparent Info On Data Requests
By 1.27.14
While a number of the largest websites and telecom companies have recently published transparency data detailing the number of data requests made about consumers, these companies have been very limited with regard to what they could say about federal requests that fall under the header of national security. In response to a call for more transparency from several major Internet businesses, the government is changing its restrictions. [More]
Motorists Snap Pictures Of Idiots On Back Of Tractor-Trailer, Don’t Call Police
By 8.15.13
The state police in Massachusetts are scolding the people of that state for getting their priorities wrong. Lots of people took and posted pictures of two teens riding on the back of a tractor-trailer outside of Boston. What they failed to do was use the phones that we presume they took those photos with and actually call the police. [More]
Restaurant Lets Non-Customer Use Bathroom, Sends Her Bill For $5
By 2.28.13
Somewhere between “no non-customers in the bathroom, no exception” and operating a mini-homeless shelter in the middle of your restaurant is a happy medium. We don’t think that compromise is the approach that a Tennessee restaurant took, which was to track down a non-customer using her license plate information and send her a bill for the restroom fee. $5. [More]
Here's How Much Law Enforcement Has To Pay To Snoop On Your Calls
By 4.9.12
Back in December, a U.S. Appeals court gave the thumbs-up to telecommunications companies working with the National Security Agency to monitor phones and email. Phone companies are also apparently totally cool with selling access to your phone activities to other law enforcement agencies willing to fork over pre-set prices. [More]
Cops Tell Town They Will Ignore Some 911 Calls Unless They Get More Gas Money
By 11.1.11
Police have told a North Carolina town that they could stop responding to 911 calls and investigating misdemeanors unless it provides more money to cover gas costs. The reduction in services could be the next cuts in Smithfield, after the force halved the number of patrol cars on duty during certain times. [More]
Author Crafts Modest Proposal For Police Officers To Consider
By 10.27.11
Law enforcement officers put themselves at great risk, perform a vital public service and give society the peace of mind to be able to function with confidence. Even so, it has been said that some cops have been known to do things that could be classified as annoying or abusive. [More]
Federal Court: Massachusetts Law Against Recording Of On-The-Job Cops Is Unconstitutional
By 8.29.11
A federal appeals court ruled that the people have the right to record police officers when they’re on the job in public. A U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals judge found that a Massachusetts law used to ban such actions is unconstitutional. [More]
National Sheriffs' Association Wants ISPs To Keep Web Surfing Logs For 18 Months
By 7.13.11
If a law enforcement trade association gets its way, a federal law will require internet service providers to maintain logs of all web addresses customers visit for 18 months. The information would be used to prosecute crimes. [More]
