The original IPA 2016 caused a furore among privacy campaigners when first proposed. It formally empowered state agencies to gather a wide range of information, particularly bulk data such as metadata related to phone calls and text messages, from telecoms operators. The Act also formally enshrined the power of the security services to hack selected …
Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California released a ruling that concluded state highway police were acting lawfully when they forcibly unlocked a suspect’s phone using their fingerprint. You probably didn’t hear about it. The case didn’t get a lot of coverage, especially because the courts weren’t giving a blanket green light …
Photo: Barry Williams for NY Daily News (Getty Images) Citing a supposed spike in crime, New York State and New York City officials have launched a heavy-handed, police-state-flavored push to increase safety in the city’s subway systems. This has included the controversial deployment of National Guard and State Police units into the city’s tunnels and, …
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max Andy Boxall / Digital Trends This has been quite a stunning week in regard to the privacy and security of smartphone users. Specifically, two investigations have revealed troubling privacy concerns around smartphone advertising and iOS’ notification system. The first, a deep investigation by 404 Media, uncovered a company called Patternz …
US Senator Ron Wyden wants the public to know about the details surrounding the long-running Hemisphere phone surveillance program. Wyden has written US Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter (PDF), asking him to release additional information about the project that apparently gives law enforcement agencies access to trillions of domestic phone records. In addition, he …