Privacy Law

Former FBI lawyer says his home computer was accessed by hacker from China

A former deputy general counsel in the FBI says a hacker from China apparently accessed his computer. The lawyer, Marion “Spike” Bowman, is a lecturer on national security law at George Washington University and chairs the board of directors for the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Before joining the FBI,…

Sep 2, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Injunction against NSA phone records program is vacated by DC Circuit

A federal appeals court on Friday vacated a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone metadata, while allowing the plaintiff to try to prove standing on remand. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a suit by…

Aug 31, 2015 9:07 AM CDT

ABA urges 11th Circuit to reconsider ban on gun-safety counseling by physicians

The American Bar Association is participating in an effort to win en banc review of a federal appeals court decision last month. It upheld a Florida law restricting physicians from asking patients about firearms or putting such information in medical records, unless it is relevant to that individual’s medicare care.…

Aug 28, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

Porn emails cited by Pennsylvania AG are unsealed; she says senders ‘manufactured’ case against her

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has unsealed 398 pages of emails containing pornographic, racist and sexist materials that were sent and received by state employees on office computers, including lawyers and agents with the Attorney General’s office. Newly unsealed documents also include a petition filed by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane…

Aug 27, 2015 10:20 AM CDT

North Dakota legalizes weaponized drones for police use

A new law allows North Dakota police officers to use drones outfitted with “less than lethal” weapons. That means police can use drones equipped with everything from Tasers to tear gas, the Daily Beast reports. The law was enacted after the drone bill underwent significant changes. The intent of the…

Aug 27, 2015 8:17 AM CDT

Lawyer is suspended for his response to Internet criticism

A lawyer accused of disclosing confidential information from his clients in response to their Internet criticism has been suspended for 18 months. Lawyer James Underhill will have to show rehabilitation before returning to law practice, according to the order by Colorado’s presiding disciplinary judge. The Legal Profession Blog notes the…

Aug 26, 2015 9:45 AM CDT

Police increasingly using stingray cellphone tracking technology to solve routine crimes

Law enforcement officials from coast to coast are secretly using cellphone tracking technology to solve routine crimes. Such devices, commonly known as stingrays, are owned by dozens of police departments from Baltimore to Los Angeles, USA Today reports. However, the use of such technology is often concealed from suspects and…

Aug 24, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

Canadian lawsuit seeks $578M over dump of hacked info from Ashley Madison dating site

Two Canadian law firms filed a class action lawsuit in Windsor, Ontario, on Thursday over a much-publicized data dump this week by unknown hackers of information about users of the Ashley Madison dating site. Although a disabled widower is currently the only named plaintiff, attorney Ted Charney of Charney Lawyers,…

Aug 24, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Prosecutors drop case after federal judge rules laptop seized at border can’t be searched

Prosecutors have decided not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that a warrant is needed to search a laptop seized at the border. Rather than appeal, federal prosecutors are seeking to drop charges against South Korean businessman Jae Shik Kim, the Blog of Legal Times reports. In a May decision,…

Aug 20, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Email secrecy claim by Pennsylvania’s AG appears at odds with newly released document

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane told reporters last week that charges against her for an alleged leak of grand jury material are part of a plan to keep her from releasing pornographic and offensive emails found on government computers. But a newly unsealed document (PDF) suggests the emails may be…

Aug 19, 2015 8:01 AM CDT

Police lack policies for use of facial recognition on suspects, NY Times says

In an era in which fingerprint technology has become a slow and sometimes inaccurate method of identifying suspects, police are moving to facial recognition software. But they are doing so without clear rules, in a manner in which some targets find intrusive and intimidating, reports the New York Times (reg.…

Aug 13, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Insider traders used hackers to steal press releases, indictments allege

Nine traders, money managers and hackers have been indicted in an alleged scheme that involved hacking into press releases before their distribution and using the information for stock purchases. The scheme involved hacking into the computers of companies that published press releases, including Marketwired, PR Newswire and Business Wire, report…

Aug 12, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Acquitted man sues ‘Cold Justice’ producers and sheriff over claimed malicious murder prosecution

Acquitted earlier this year in the 1981 murder of his ex-wife, an Ohio man has filed a federal civil rights suit over a true-crime television show. In portraying the case in August 2014, TNT’s Cold Justice put him in a false light, Steven Noffsinger contends. The suit says that the…

Aug 11, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane is charged in grand jury leak, accused of lying about it

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was charged Thursday with leaking grand jury information and lying about it to a grand jury. Charges against Kane include obstructing justice, official oppression, conspiracy, perjury and false swearing, report the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.), the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Allentown Morning…

Aug 6, 2015 11:54 AM CDT

Cops caught on pot raid video argue they deserved privacy after disabling all but one camera

Police officers in Santa Ana, California, are seeking to quash use of a video taken during their raid of a medical marijuana dispensary taken by a hidden camera they failed to disable. Lawyers for the officers argue they had a reasonable expectation of privacy after disabling other cameras during their…

Aug 5, 2015 10:34 AM CDT