Supreme Court – Meet Social Media
Posted on: 03 Mar 2017
Once again the United States Supreme Court steps into the thicket of how and when the States may regulate the content and actions of users of social media. In oral arguments…
Phone Check – White House Demands Inspection of Employee Phones – What’s In YOUR Cell Phone?
Posted on: 28 Feb 2017
It has been reported that Presidential spokesperson Sean Spicer called an emergency meeting of his staff to hunt for leaks. At that meeting, reportedly approved by and supervised by White…
Amazon to Arkansas Cops – What You Tell Your Amazon Echo Is First Amendment Protected Speech
Posted on: 27 Feb 2017
Earlier, I wrote about the efforts by the Bentonville, Arkansas police department to compel Amazon to produce – by search warrant issued by an Arkansas judge – the contents of…
Can the US Seize Botnets and Data Overseas Without A Warrant?
Posted on: 23 Feb 2017
It sounds like a classic law school exam question. A border patrol agent in the United States, without adequate provocation or justification, fires a shot across the Mexican border, hitting…
Judge Gorsuch and Technology (and Privacy)
Posted on: 01 Feb 2017
When Walter Ackerman sent an email from his AOL account to someone else, it never arrived. It never arrived because AOL’s computers examined the contents of the email, using an…
I’ll Trade You a Mantle Rookie Card for Two Cyber Vulnerabilities
Posted on: 31 Jan 2017
President Trump is slated to issue two Executive Orders this week which may relate to the ability of the nation to defend itself (and its critical infrastructure) from potential cyberattacks. The first is the…
Alexa, How Do You Hide a Dead Body?
Posted on: 30 Jan 2017
A recent report has indicated that police have subpoenaed records from Amazon to get the cloud stored audio files from an Amazon Echo to help solve a murder case. This…
FTC versus IoT
Posted on: 06 Jan 2017
For the Internet of Things (IoT) to be useful, some sensing device has to collect data, and transmit that data over the Internet (typically) to a cloud server (typically) that…
Share and Share Alike in the Context of the Reported Russian Hack
Posted on: 05 Jan 2017
In preparation for sanctions against hackers from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) and Russia’s main intelligence agency known as the GRU, the Obama administration released information that…
I’m Not Reading Your Email – I’m Just Reading the Other Guys – Court Approves NSA Interception
Posted on: 16 Dec 2016
A federal court in San Francisco on December 5th, approved of the government’s interception and use of emails and other communications in a terrorism case involving the so-called Portland Christmas Tree…