Legal
Iowa Legislature Approves Bill Banning Public Bathroom Video Surveillance
A bill that would block government entities from putting up surveillance cameras inside the bathrooms of public buildings has passed both the Iowa House and Senate and is expected to be signed by Gov. Terry Branstad. The ACLU of Iowa had been pushing for the bill after complaints from an Iowa City woman who noticed that a camera was focused on the sink area inside the Iowa City Public Library.
SIA Recommends School Safety Guidelines, Endorses Proposed Federal Funding For School Security Grant
In the wake of a tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California, on Monday, the Security Industry Association (SIA) pressed for wide adoption of school security guidelines developed by the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS), which prescribe a tiered approach for schools based on available resources. SIA also announced its support of proposed funding measures on Capitol Hill that would authorize matching grants for school security measures.
As Drones Become Norm In Police Work, A SoCal Police Department Explains Why It Bought In
Whether the intent is to find lost seniors suffering from dementia or support a manhunt for fleeing suspects, police in Chula Vista, California, (just east of San Diego) are turning to drones for quick aerial intelligence. Alongside the city’s fire department, the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) is investing in the technology as a way to maximize time spent by officers on tactical operations.
ASIS Lends Support To MAIN STREET Cybersecurity Act
ASIS International (ASIS), the leading association for security management professionals worldwide, today sent a letter of support to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for the Making Available Information Now to Strengthen Trust and Resilience and Enhance Enterprise Technology (MAIN STREET) Cybersecurity Act. The proposed legislation calls on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other agencies to provide a consistent set of resources for small businesses to best protect their digital assets from cybersecurity threats.
Drug Case In Jeopardy Over Surveillance, Warrant Issues
A mistrial was declared in the case of an accused Rochester Hills drug dealer this month after it was disclosed his defense attorney never received pretrial information about a mobile tracking device placed on his client?s vehicle by investigators. But still in dispute —and possibly to be addressed at a pretrial hearing Tuesday— is whether the tracker that monitored his movements was legally attached to Dukes? 2015 Cadillac. Officials have been unable to locate the original search warrant reportedly obtained from a Pontiac district judge by Detective Charles Janczarek, a member of the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Defense attorneys and civil right advocates said the case underscores concerns about the potential for abuse of GPS trackers by law enforcement and the need for proper search warrants.
NYPD Sent Video Teams To Record Occupy And BLM Protests Over 400 Times, Documents Reveal
New York City Police Department documents obtained by The Verge show that police camera teams were deployed to hundreds of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street protests from 2011?2013 and 2016. Originally acquired through a Freedom of Information Law request by New York attorney David Thompson of Stecklow, Cohen & Thompson, the records are job reports from the NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) that document over 400 instances in which the unit?s video team attended, and sometimes filmed, demonstrations. More important than the records the NYPD turned over, however, are those that it claims it cannot find: namely, any documents demonstrating that legal reviews and authorizations of these surveillance operations took place.
Court Filing Declares Border Patrol Lost Or Destroyed Original Video Of Nogales AZ Teen’s Killing By Agent
The Border Patrol has either lost or destroyed original videos showing the 2012 killing of a Mexican teenager by a Border Patrol agent who fired across the border, a new court filing says. Agent Lonnie Swartz fired through slats in the border fence in Nogales, AZ, 4-1/2 years ago, killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez on the other side in Nogales, Sonora. Swartz was charged with second-degree murder in federal court in September 2015. His trial is expected to begin later this year. Swartz’s lawyer, Sean Chapman, filed a motion this week to have duplicate border surveillance videos precluded as evidence in Swartz’s trial because of technical (data retention) issues.
For Surveillance Cameras To Be Kept In Line, Rules Will Need To Keep Pace With Technology
It has been said that Britain has more surveillance cameras than any other country in the world. This proliferation of CCTV cameras led the government to establish a surveillance camera commissioner responsible for overseeing their governance ? the only country in the world to do so. In another first, the commissioner has now released a national strategy for England and Wales to set out how CCTV should be operated and to ensure that cameras are used in the public interest.
Maine’s Resistance To Real ID Law Starting To Cause Problems, Legislators Told
The real-life impacts of Maine?s refusal to issue new federally mandated driver?s licenses and identification cards were on display Tuesday as lawmakers heard testimony on a bill that would bring the state into compliance with the federal Real ID law. Maine has been among a handful of states to resist the federal law, which requires digital photos on state driver?s licenses, IDs that can be used with facial recognition software, and the digital archiving of identity documents such as birth certificates or Social Security numbers, among other things. The states where residents will need identification other than driver?s licenses to fly on Jan. 22, 2018, are: Maine, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington.
Upload To File-Sharing Site Was Like Leaving Legal File On A Bench, Judge Says; Privilege Is Waived
As physical security organizations deal with the storage and usage of video surveillance in legal matters, the following legal precedent raises questions about cloud-based storage and any use of “file sharing” sites. An insurance company has waived any claim of privilege to materials uploaded to an unprotected file-sharing site, a federal magistrate judge in Virginia ruled earlier this month. U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent said in a Feb. 9 decision that the Harleysville Insurance Co. waived its privilege in documents uploaded to a site where they were accessible to anyone who had the hyperlink, according to the ABA BNA Lawyers? Manual on Professional Conduct.
Geolocation Privacy And Surveillance Act Introduced In US Congress
On February 15, the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act (GPS Act) was introduced by a bipartisan group of US Congress members. Designed to enact comprehensive rules for both government agencies and commercial service providers, the GPS Act would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using GPS data to track an individual?s location and would require service providers to obtain customer consent before sharing geolocation data with outside entities.
D-Link’s Alleged Security Failures Achieve FTC Lawsuit: D-Link Responds
In its latest enforcement action in the realm of the Internet of Things, the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against D-Link Corporation, a Taiwan-based computer networking equipment manufacturer and its U.S. subsidiary, alleging that the defendants failed to employ adequate security measures for their wireless routers and surveillance cameras. Although D-Link promoted the security of its routers with claims like “EASY TO SECURE” and “ADVANCED NETWORK SECURITY,” the company neglected to take easy steps to avoid security flaws, the agency asserted in its California federal court complaint. According to the agency, D-Link accepted hard-coded login credentials and the use of “command injection,” which allowed remote attackers to take control of routers by sending commands over the Internet.
?Smart Cities,? Surveillance, And New Streetlights In San Jose: An EFF Response
The San Jose City Council is considering a proposal to install over 39,000 ?smart streetlights.? A pilot program is already underway. These smart streetlights are not themselves a surveillance technology. But they have ports on top that, in the future, could accommodate surveillance technology, such as video cameras and microphones. EFF and our allies sent a letter to the San Jose City Council urging them to adopt an ordinance to ensure democratic control of all of that community?s surveillance technology decisions?including whether to plug spy cameras into the ports of smart streetlights.
Four More States Propose Biometrics Legislation
In recent years, the plaintiffs? class action bar has focused its efforts on pursuing claims under legislative schemes that provide for statutory damages. The litigation explosion under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a textbook example of how enterprising lawyers exploit laws that provide for such uncapped damages in an attempt to extract large settlements for technical violations that, in many cases, have caused no cognizable harm. As plaintiffs begin to explore new claims under these legislative schemes, we seek to help our clients minimize their risk through heightened awareness of the technical requirements of new and existing laws, vigilant compliance programs, and aggressive defense against litigation. Biometrics is one such area.
NY Appeals Court Decision Signals Cybersecurity Whistleblowing Implicates Corporate Theft
Most people don?t think about what whistleblower laws may protect them until they need them. Many information security professionals may be surprised to learn that they are protected by the law although no law specifically protects ?cybersecurity? whistleblowers. This is because issues involving information security are rarely only about information security. The criminal case of […]
L.A. Police Commission Unveils Process That Could Lead To Public Release Of LAPD Video
In the months since the Los Angeles Police Department began rolling out thousands of body cameras to officers, during a time when video has prompted new scrutiny of policing across the country, a key question persists. When should the footage become public? On Tuesday, the civilian board that oversees the LAPD began a process to review the department’s current policy of generally withholding that video —whether it was captured by body cameras, patrol car cameras or otherwise collected during an investigation— unless ordered to release it in court. Some police commissioners, along with Chief Charlie Beck, have indicated in recent months that they were open to revisiting the policy, but Tuesday marked a more formal step toward that.
SIA Renews Support For Bipartisan DIGIT Act
The Security Industry Association (SIA) announced its continued support of the bipartisan Developing and Growing the Internet of Things (DIGIT) Act, reintroduced in the Senate on January 10th, 2017, by the Internet of Things (IoT) working group. The group consists of Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. Sen. Fischer, the bill?s chief sponsor, again recognized SIA as a key supporting organization in a press release.
Privacy Advocates Warn of Potential Surveillance Through Listening Devices Like Amazon Echo, Google Home
Privacy experts are keeping a close watch on the case of a Bentonville, Arkansas, man who was charged with murder after prosecutors obtained a warrant to receive data from his Amazon Echo, a voice-activated device that is always listening and often recording. James Andrew Bates says he?s innocent of the murder of Victor Collins, who was found strangled in Bates?s hot tub. Prosecutors hope to search audio recordings on Bates?s Amazon Echo for clues. So far, lawyers for Amazon have refused to comply with the warrant, but the case has drawn national attention and alarmed civil liberties groups. We speak with Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
DOJ Body-Worn Camera Policy And Implementation Program FY2017
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications for the FY 2017 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program. This program furthers the Department?s mission by supporting the safe and fair administration of justice.
Viakoo Awarded US Patent For Validating Retention Times Of Surveillance Data
Viakoo, the leader in automated verification of physical security system performance, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued its U.S. Patent No. 9,456,190. The patent covers methods for independently calculating the actual time period of retention for an individual video data stream on a recording system. Viakoo has implemented this patent in its products to automatically detect, track, and validate Video Retention Compliance (VRC) as a key performance metric.