“For years, [Illinois] cops used the state’s eavesdropping laws to arrest citizens who attempted to record them. This practice finally stopped when three consecutive courts — including a federal appeals court — ruled the law was unconstitutional when applied to target citizens recording public servants.” But the law is “still being used by government officials to punish people they don’t like. Illinois Policy reports a 13-year-old student is facing felony charges for recording a meeting between him and two school administrators.” [Tim Cushing, TechDirt; Austin Berg, Illinois Policy, related]
Posts Tagged ‘surveillance’
Chicago police want facial recognition drones
“We should consider how the technology is likely to be used, not how its proponents say it will.” [Matthew Feeney, Cato]
Tracing taco trucks’ tracks
Chicago requires food trucks to carry GPS tracking devices; police then get access to the resulting data. Is that constitutional under the Fourth Amendment? [Ilya Shapiro and Aaron Barnes on Cato amicus brief in LMP Services v. City of Chicago, on appeal to Illinois Supreme Court]
Eyes on the community, and your business must participate
The city of Saginaw, Mich. has ordered businesses in a long list of categories, including bars, phone sellers, and secondhand merchants, to install video surveillance systems whose output is to be made available on demand to the police [Isis Simpson-Mersha, MLive via Scott Shackford, Reason] Earlier proposals in Detroit and Maryland called for requiring gas station owners to install surveillance video systems, but this extends the idea to many other types of business.
Supreme Court roundup
Mostly Cato links:
- Today, Monday afternoon: Ilya Shapiro and John Paul Schnapper-Casteras preview Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission from different perspectives on eve of oral argument, Roger Pilon moderating [watch online, earlier] Why, on cakeshop case, “it won’t surprise me if the court comes up with something a little muddled and a little bit hard to read” [Chris Johnson, Washington Blade, quotes me] More: George Will (cakes are not expression; but while couple who sued cake-baker “might be feeling virtuous for having done so… siccing the government on him was nasty.”);
- “Christie v. NCAA: Anti-Commandeering or Bust” [Jonathan Wood and Shapiro, earlier here and here] “Supreme Court’s Sports Betting Case Could Redefine Relationship between Feds and States” [Shapiro]
- Federal courts were politicized before the Federalist Society came along, and promoting the cause of textualism helps de-politicize them [Roger Pilon]
- SCOTUS should use Janus v. AFSCME to recognize public employees’ First Amendment rights against forced union agency fees [Shapiro, Trevor Burrus, and Aaron Barnes] More: Shapiro and Frank Garrison, National Review; Cato Podcast with Jacob Huebert and Caleb Brown;
- Silvester v. Becerra: Ninth Circuit errs on individual gun rights, SCOTUS should correct [Shapiro and Matthew LaRosiere]
- Assuming patents = property, structure of Patent Trial and Appeal Board may flunk constitutionally required norms of judicial independence [Shapiro and Barnes on Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC; Federalist Society panel video with Gregory Dolin, John Duffy, Arti Ray, and Robert Greene Sterne; Jeffri Kaminski, WLF]
- Collins v. Virginia gives Court a chance to protect the integrity of the home against warrantless searches [Jay Schweikert] And mark Dec. 13 for the 2017 Cato Surveillance Conference;
- Extending Commerce Clause to prairie dogs gnaws at constitutional principle [Shapiro, Burrus, and Reilly Stephens on Cato amicus brief urging certiorari in PETPO v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Jacob Sullum]
Banking and finance roundup
- Sources: Treasury intelligence division has unlawfully spied on and collected Americans’ private financial information [Jason Leopold and Jessica Garrison, BuzzFeed]
- “A majority of Americans oppose the idea of regulating CEO pay.” [Thaya Brook Knight, IBD]
- “Senate should vacate the harmful consumer banking arbitration rule” [Keith Noreika (acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency), The Hill]
- “Derivative litigation mainly serves as a means of transferring wealth from investors to lawyers.” Is there a case for abolishing it? [Stephen Bainbridge]
- U.S. government files false affidavit, stages splashy raid, destroys business. Tough luck apparently [Ira Stoll on Second Circuit finding of qualified immunity for prosecutors in David Ganek case]
- “Look in the Mirror: Why the Number of Public Companies & IPOs are in Decline” [Patrick A. Reardon, CrowdFund Insider]
Feds want to post drones with facial recognition in border areas
“The Department of Homeland Security wants border drones that can recognize faces and track individuals over long distances.” What could go wrong? [Matthew Feeney interview with Caleb Brown, Cato Podcast, and background blog post]
Police and community roundup
- Fraternal Order of Police asks Amazon to stop allowing sales of Black Lives Matter shirts after Walmart.com yields to similar request [Ben Rosen, Christian Science Monitor] FOP boss Chuck Canterbury, defending civil asset forfeiture: hey we could use the money [Scott Shackford] FOP chief vows to override Pennsylvania governor’s veto of bill that would shield names of involved police officers for 30 days after killings of civilians [CBS Philadelphia]
- Technology panel from Cato policing conference included law professors Tracey Meares of Yale and Elizabeth Joh of UC Davis, City of San Jose independent police auditor Walter Katz, and Maj. Max Geron of the Dallas PD, moderated by Cato’s Jonathan Blanks [video or podcast] “Police Spy Tools Evolve Faster Than Lawmakers Can Keep Up: Baltimore’s aerial surveillance continues unchecked” [Monte Reel, Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
- One effect of ban on smoking in New York City public housing: new excuse for cops to bust in [Scott Greenfield]
- “WSJ investigation: Of 3,458 US police officers charged with crimes, 332 (10%) kept their badges” [@johngramlich]
- “San Francisco has become a predatory government,” says its elected treasurer [José Cisneros, San Francisco Chronicle]
- Don’t let quest to increase police accountability worsen problem of intrusive surveillance [Matthew Feeney on Jake Laperruque presentation at Cato’s recent surveillance conference]
November 16 roundup
- With U.S. international adoption already down 75 percent, proposed State Department regulations could choke off much of remainder [SaveAdoptions.org, Jayme Metzgar/Federalist, National Council for Adoption]
- Baltimore police surveillance, redistricting, teacher’s union holidays: after a hiatus I’ve resumed Maryland policy roundups at Free State Notes;
- Facebook potluck group was being monitored: “Single Mother Facing Prison for Selling Homemade Mexican Dish to Undercover Cop” [Robby Soave]
- Brad Avakian, tormentor of small businesspeople under Oregon discrimination law, loses Secretary of State bid [Victoria Taft, IJR]
- Shipping & Transit LLC: “America’s Biggest Filer of Patent Suits Wants You to Know It Invented Shipping Notification” [Ruth Simon and Loretta Chao, WSJ] “Stupid Patent of the Month: Changing the Channel” [Daniel Nazer, EFF]
“DEA mines Americans’ travel records to seize millions”
“Federal drug agents regularly mine Americans’ travel information to profile people who might be ferrying money for narcotics traffickers — though they almost never use what they learn to make arrests or build criminal cases. Instead, that targeting has helped the Drug Enforcement Administration seize a small fortune in cash.” [Brad Heath, USA Today/KUSA]