Kentucky Troopers Say “Driving While Eating” Is Just Cause For Stops

State Troopers are ramping up patrols, saying eating or drinking while driving are grounds for being stopped. But is it a back door to illegal searches?

Les Neuhaus
By Les Neuhaus

The Kentucky State Patrol announced this month that it would be starting a new campaign to enforce safer driving standards across the state’s highways. Sounds like that would be a good thing for everyone, right? The problem is the program has a pretty broad interpretation, and if you’re driving down the road enjoying a sandwich while driving at

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Privacy Advocates Gearing Up To Sue Oakland Over City “Spy” Center

The city says the goal is to monitor 24/7 for crime and to improve emergency response times, but privacy advocates and residents have serious doubts about that claim.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Screenshot from slideshow delivered by surveillance contractor SAIC, durina committee meeting with city staffers.

The Oakland Privacy Working Group, a coalition of civil liberties advocates, announced on Monday it would file a taxpayer lawsuit against the city of Oakland, Calif., if city officials continued to construct the Department of Homeland Security-funded Domain Awareness Center, which it says violates the First and Fourth Amendment rights of Oakland

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SCOTUS Rules Unreasonably Prolonged K-9 Searches Consitute “Illegal Detention”

According to a 2005 decision by the Supreme Court, a drug-sniffing dog “can be used at any traffic stop, whether or not there is suspicion of a controlled substance being transported.”

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke

Eight minutes. That's how much time police officers in the United States have been granted under the U.S. Constitution to extend a routine traffic stop so that a local K-9 unit can come with a drug-sniffing dog and search a vehicle, without any reasonable suspicion there are any drugs inside. In other words, an officer can legally require a

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Vague Language In MN Drone Bill Could Affect Privacy Rights

Before drone use by the masses takes off, lawmakers and privacy advocates say there needs to be rules on when and where the technology can be used.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Phantom, a drone designed to take photographs from the air, is demonstrated at the Drones and Aerial Robotics Conference (DARC), held at New York University, on Oct. 12, 2013. (Kike Calvo via AP Images)

Despite a plethora of concerns, namely violating the public’s privacy, drones don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. In order to make sure the rules for using a drone are as clear as possible, Minnesota state Rep. Brian Johnson, a Republican, has reintroduced legislation clarifying when law enforcement can use the technology in the

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Americans Lack Of Faith In Obama’s Plan To Rein In NSA

Obama’s proposal is a moderate step toward curbing the powers of the NSA, but most Americans feel it will have little impact.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

According to a newly-released Pew Research poll, most Americans feel that the president’s proposals to reform the National Security Agency will result in no significant change.   Nearly three-quarters of all polled feel that Obama’s changes will neither increase the protections on individuals’ privacy nor make fighting terrorism

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Drones: Unmanned, Armed — and Dangerous?

Domestic drones “pose a threat to privacy and civil liberties … Law enforcement has not been very transparent about what kind of data is being collected by these drones.”

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller

LOS ANGELES --- To a shopkeeper in the Pakistani town of Miramshah, they are “like the angels of death. Only they know when and where they will strike.” To civil libertarians, they are a threat to our most basic rights, eyes in the sky that can peek into our most private activities. To others, they have revolutionized warfare and could do the same

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