amendments

Supremes to Congress: Bring privacy law into 21st century

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See bios of Berin Szoka and Charlie Kennedy below.

Last week's unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Jones (PDF) marks a major victory for constitutional rights.

While the justices split in their rationale, they agreed that protecting Americans' privacy in the digital age will require the Court to do a great deal more to untangle its confusing Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. That will likely take several more decisions -- and many years. Meanwhile, Congress should heed Justice Samuel Alito's call for legislation limiting government's ability to track … Read more

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops

American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court.

Blackburn, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Fifth Amendment posed no barrier to his decryption order. The Fifth Amendment says that nobody may be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,&… Read more

Why Supreme Court's GPS ruling will improve your privacy rights

The U.S. Supreme Court's sweeping decision requiring police to obtain search warrants to plant GPS tracking devices on automobiles will broadly enhance Americans' electronic privacy rights, legal experts predicted today.

This morning's unanimous ruling (PDF) says the customary law enforcement practice of installing GPS trackers without judicial approval--which has become more common as prices have fallen--violates Americans' Fourth Amendment rights to be free from warrantless searches.

That reasoning suggests police also need to obtain warrants before tracking the locations of cell phones and mobile devices, another contentious topic currently before the courts, said Greg Nojeim, an … Read more

SOPA opponents may go nuclear and other 2012 predictions

The Internet's most popular destinations, including eBay, Google, Facebook, and Twitter, seem to view Hollywood-backed copyright legislation as an existential threat.

It was Google co-founder Sergey Brin who warned that the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act "would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world." Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman argue that the bills give the Feds unacceptable "power to censor the Web."

But these companies have yet to roll out the heavy artillery.

When … Read more

SOPA foes marshal opposition before House panel vote

Foes of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act are rallying opponents ranging from Internet engineers to First Amendment scholar Laurence Tribe ahead of an expected committee vote on the legislation this week.

Their aim is to sway the 39 members of the House Judiciary committee, which oversees copyright law. The panel's chairman is Lamar Smith of Texas, Hollywood's favorite House Republican and the principal author of SOPA, which has drawn what may be an unprecedented public outcry from Internet users and companies including Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla, eBay, and Google.

Tribe, a high-profile Harvard law professor and author of … Read more

Police procedures leaked for getting into Facebook, other accounts

Confidential guidelines telling police how to access Facebook, Microsoft, Blizzard, and AOL user accounts have appeared online this week.

The files, known colloquially as law enforcement guidelines, typically tell police what types of user data are stored, how long they're retained, and what procedures to use to gain access to them.

A few types of requests--for e-mail less than 180 days old, for instance--tend to require search warrants. In general, basic subscriber information can be disclosed with a subpoena, and a court order is required for more extensive information (whether that's sufficient is the subject of ongoing litigation … Read more

Second judge gives DOJ access to WikiLeaks-related Twitter accounts

The U.S. Justice Department will be allowed access to WikiLeaks-related Twitter accounts, including information about what Internet and e-mail addresses are associated with them, a federal district judge ruled today.

The 60-page ruling from U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady in Virginia represents a second victory for the Department of Justice, which sought the court order as part of a grand jury probe that appears to be investigating whether WikiLeaks principals including editor Julian Assange violated American criminal laws.

"The Twitter order did not violate the Constitution," O'Grady concluded. In addition, he said, there was … Read more

Groupon's founders to retain control post-IPO

Once Groupon goes public on Friday, its founding trio won't be giving up their sway over the daily deals giant they started in October 2008, thanks to a dual-class share structure that's rigged in their favor.

According to an amended SEC filing posted today, Groupon's three founders--CEO Andrew Mason, Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky, and Director Bradley Keywell--will control 58.1 percent of the voting shares of outstanding capital stock. Specifically, the founders will own 34.1 percent of Class A common stock--each share of which gets one vote--and 100 percent of supervoting Class B shares, which each … Read more

Groupon may raise IPO pricing

As Groupon wrapped up the first leg of its no-frills roadshow in New York City on Friday, the daily deals giant was said to be considering raising its IPO price.

The Chicago-based company may file an amended S-1 document early next week, ahead of its anticipated IPO pricing date on November 3, Reuters and Bloomberg are reporting.

Groupon has filed with regulators to sell 30 million shares at $16 to $18 per share. And in that range, Groupon could raise $621 million and be valued at up to $11.4 billion, bankers said.

Earlier this year Groupon was valued at $… Read more

Privacy cases slated for U.S. Supreme Court's new term

When police in the District of Columbia decided to use an automobile GPS bug to surreptitiously track the movements of Antoine Jones, a suspected cocaine dealer, they set in motion a legal challenge that will end before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court's fall term, which begins today, includes a review of Jones' attempt to overturn his conviction. His attorneys argue that such precise turn-by-turn tracking requires a search warrant signed by a judge--a step that D.C. police chose not to take.

It's one of a handful of technology cases that, in addition to a high-profile … Read more