by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Missouri held that evidence obtained from a cell phone seized from defendant while he was visiting the sheriff’s office was properly suppressed where the search warrant allowing for seizure of the phone identified only the defendant’s home as the location to be ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the term “controlled substance offense” in § 2K2.1(a)(2) of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG”) refers to substances that are controlled at the time of the defendant’s sentencing, not at the time of their prior conviction. ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A June 29, 2021, report from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) details the use of facial recognition technology (“FRT”) among federal agencies and documents alarming lack of accountability, transparency, or any meaningful policies governing its use.
The GAO report reviewed 42 of the 86 federal ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Americans are being subjected to a rapid proliferation of surveillance in every area of their lives, jeopardizing their privacy interests and rights under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Law enforcement agencies at all levels are increasing the amount and types of spying as new ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Reporting from Wired shows how researchers at Johns Hopkins University looked into vulnerabilities in Apple and Android phones and how they can be exploited by groups like law enforcement and other government actors.
Cryptographers at Johns Hopkins analyzed the current state of encryption, the technology used ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A bill introduced in mid-April by Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY) and 18 other U.S. Senators would make it illegal for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to purchase Americans’ sensitive information—including geolocation data or the content of communications—from any company that collects such data.
This ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The United States Postal Service (“USPS”) has been running a semi-secret program monitoring social media site traffic, raising concerns about the purpose or authority for such a program surveilling American citizens.
First reported in April 2021 by Jenna Winter on Yahoo! News, the USPS had published ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Rhode Island held that the search warrant used to search a defendant’s home was invalid because the officer’s failure to append the alleged child porn video or a still image thereof or even describe the material with anything other than conclusory language ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
THe Supreme Court of Georgia held that claims of merger error during sentencing may be raised for the first time in a properly filed habeas petition and are not procedurally barred by failure to raise such claims in the trial court or on direct appeal.
On ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Technology companies and prosecutors are working together to assert the right of the companies to protect their intellectual property in ways that deny criminal defendants their right to challenge the reliability of forensic evidence in criminal proceedings. This assertion of intellectual property rights is done in ...
