• Google wants to limit law enforcement’s access to e-mails, users’ information

    In 2012 Google received 16,407 requests for user data, which affected 31,072 users or accounts. More than half of the requests were accompanied with a subpoena, the others were not. Google is planning on lobbying Washington this year to persuade lawmakers that they should make it harder for law enforcement to gain access to  e-mails and other digital messages.

  • New Hampshire bill would limit searches, expand expectation of privacy

    New Hampshire State Representative Neal Kurk ® says state residents do not expect,when they throw something out in their trash or leave a drinking glass with their saliva on it at a public place, that law enforcement, insurance companies, or data miners would use the trash left behind to glean  personally identifiable information.

  • Biometric workshop studied voice, dental, oral standards

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hosted a workshop to discuss proposed supplements to the biometric data format standard that support voice recognition, dental and oral data, disaster victim identification, and special data needs for mobile ID applications.

  • Laser scanner documents crimes scenes quickly, accurately

    See video

    The Carlsbad, California police is using a new laser scanner to capture what happened at crime scene. Thenew technology cuts the time it takes to document a crime scene, from the size of the room to the bullet holes in the wall, by up to 80 percent.

  • Nebraska lawmakers look to limit police drone use

    The Federal Aviation Administration says there will be around 30,000 commercial and government drones  flying over the United States in the next ten years. The business of selling and servicing domestic drones is projected to grow into a $90 billion industry. Lawmakers at the federal and state level say that to prevent these drone from encroaching on citizens’ privacy, it is time to define what they can do, where, and when.

  • Feds to fund DNA collection from suspects

    Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has revealed a plan to collect DNA from suspects upon arrest, and while Republicans who support the plan look for ways to fund it, some of the money could come from Congress.

  • Police depts. reviews policy on retaining data from license plate readers

    License plate readers (LPRs) have been used more and more by law enforcement agencies across the United States, but as they gain popularity in law enforcement, they have become the subject of debate, and concern, in many local governments.

  • Instant DNA analysis worries privacy advocates

    In the past, it took weeks to analyze a person’s DNA, but with new technology it can take less than a day, and in most cases less than two hours; Rapid DNA analyzers can process a DN sample in less than ninety minutes; these machines, the size of a household printer, are now being marketed to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies around the country; privacy advocates worry

  • Portable X-ray source offers a mobile terrorism prevention tool

    The hand-held scanners, or tricorders, of the Star Trek movies and television series are one step closer to reality now that a engineers have invented a compact source of X-rays and other forms of radiation; the radiation source, which is the size of a stick of gum, could be used to create inexpensive and portable X-ray scanners for use by doctors, as well as to fight terrorism and smuggling and aid exploration on this planet and others

  • Helicopter monitors radiation levels in Washington, D.C.

    For the last week, a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) helicopter has been flying over Washington, D.C., measuring naturally occurring radiation levels; the purpose is to establish a baseline of radiation levels so that abnormal spikes – occurring, for example, as a result of exploding a dirty bomb — may be readily detected

  • Less-lethal 12-gauge shotgun round for law enforcement unveiled

    Innovative new round flattens, or “pancakes,” across a subject’s body on impact rather than keeping its shape as other rounds do

  • Privately funded gun buy-back programs proliferate

    In the aftermath of the Connecticut mass shooting, private donors have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to cities around the United States to fund gun buy-back programs; thousands of guns – and two rocket launchers – have been collected, but the impact on a gun-saturated society is likely to be small: this year alone the FBI has recorded 16.8 million instant background checks of gun buyers, 400,000 more than last year, which was a record year

  • Proliferation of license plate readers worry privacy advocates

    Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology has taken off in recent years, and the police says it is the greatest innovation since fingerprints and DNA; the technology has changed the way police finds cars  connected to crimes, but in the process it has upset many privacy advocates

  • Louisiana parishes to encrypt police radio communication

    First-responder agencies in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana will soon be encrypting all emergency radios,  keeping emergency response chatter out of the ears of the public; the police says the   encrypted communication is needed  in order to keep criminals from gaining information on police by listening to scanners, but a police union and crime-prevention groups are worried that the encrypted system would prevent the media from monitoring police activity, and hobble neighborhood watch organizations from keeping their neighborhoods safe

  • Downloadable, printable gun technology may change gun-ownership landscape

    An Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed says its mission is to create the WikiWeapon: a downloadable Internet file which will allow users to print their gun on a 3D printer; when the development process is complete, “any person has near-instant access to a firearm through the Internet,” the company says;the company adds: “This project might change the way we think about gun control and consumption. How do governments behave if they must one day operate on the assumption that any and every citizen has near instant access to a firearm through the Internet? Let’s find out”