• Congressional approval of cybersecurity bill looks promising

    Amid the partisan acrimony of the budget battles on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration and the Senate have made promising efforts to pass a sweeping cybersecurity bill in a rare show of bipartisan agreement; the bill is now at the top of the Senate’s agenda, and Senator Harry Reid (D – Nevada), the majority leader, said he plans to bring the bill to the floor during the first working session of 2012

  • Drones and privacy

    With civilian unmanned surveillance drones now capable of listening in on cell phone conversations, monitoring Wi-Fi traffic, seeing into backyards and windows not visible from the street, and tracking a person’s movement privacy advocates are concerned that the rapid advances in technology could violate privacy rights

  • Facebook facial recognition proving problematic overseas

    A German court ruled that Facebook’s facial recognition software is in violation of German and European privacy laws; the company has until 7 November to amend its software to comply with German and EU laws or else it will face legal action

  • Underage cartel recruits increasingly prosecuted by local courts

    In the past when Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would catch teenagers smuggling narcotics, the agency would hand the case over to federal prosecutors, but Border Patrol has entered into a new arrangement with local prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney General’s office to send cases directly to local courts for prosecution

  • Federal court blocks portions of Alabama immigration law

    Last week a federal judge blocked enforcement of several provisions of a controversial Alabama immigration law

  • DHS limits employees outside activities

    Last week DHS announced that it was considering a policy that would limit the outside activities of its federal employees

  • Calif. Allows warrantless searches of cell phones

    California Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill which aimed to prohibit California police from conducting warrantless searches of the cell phones of people under arrest

  • Judge rules parts of Patriot Act unconstitutional

    U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, now permits surveillance and searches without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment; “For over 200 years, this Nation has adhered to the rule of law — with unparalleled success. A shift to a Nation based on extra-constitutional authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised,” she wrote

  • Sharp rise in number of holders of security clearances

    As of 1 October 2010, the number of Americans holding security clearances was 4,266,091; of those, 1,419,051 federal employees and contractors hold Top Secret clearances

  • FDA unveils new outbreak response network

    Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled its new streamlined approach for responding to foodborne illness outbreaks; under the “CORE” Network, the FDA Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network, the FDA will bring together multidisciplinary teams consisting of epidemiologists, veterinarians, microbiologists, environmental health specialists, emergency coordinators, and risk communications specialists

  • Supreme Court to rule on age of "Big Brother" surveillance

    This November the Supreme Court is gearing up to hear a landmark case which will decide how far law enforcement agencies can pry into an individual’s private life; federal judges argue that the use of GPS surveillance by law enforcement is an “Orwellian intrusion” into private life and violate the Fourth Amendment; meanwhile police say GPS tracking is simply a more efficient way to tail a suspect’s car or track their movements, things they can currently do without a warrant

  • Congress should permanently authorize chemical security bill

    Calvin Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council and a former U.S. Congressman, discusses the efforts to date of the chemical industry to secure its facilities, the need for Congress permanently to authorize a regulatory regime, and the fallacies of a one-size fits all approach to chemical security

  • Courts uphold rights of citizens to record police in action

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, in a unanimous decision that many see as a victory for the First Amendment, has recently upheld the right of an attorney to sue police after the police arrested him for using his cell phone to make an audio and video recording of officers conducting an arrest on Boston Common in the fall 2007

  • Four days of rioting strains U.K. legal system

    The ongoing unrest in the United Kingdom has begun to strain the country’s criminal justice and law enforcement system; with police arresting hundreds of people over the last few days, local judges have had trouble keeping up with the case load and facilities have quickly become overcrowded

  • Record number of immigration bills introduced in 2011

    This year state lawmakers have introduced a record number of immigration bills and resolutions according to a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures; so far in the first half of the year, state legislators have seen 1,592 immigration bills, 16 percent more than the same time period last year