There are few things that make your stomach drop faster than seeing a police car siren in your rearview mirror. Those flashing lights almost always mean you’re in for a reaming, a possible court date, a hefty fine and maybe even weekends lost to traffic school. It’s the worst feeling ever. Unless the cop pulling you over is actually pranking you by giving you a 100 bucks for obeying the law.
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Generally speaking, domestic drone surveillance is a big no-no. Nevertheless local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are finding a way to do it by borrowing drones from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. And, according to a recent FOIA request, it’s happening more and more.
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At this point, nobody’s surprised to hear that the authorities can track your cell phone. But what you might not realize is just how easy and how incredibly cheap it is.
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Police don’t have much trouble getting access to your cell phone data. Location data, call records, text messages—it’s all up for grabs, often without a warrant. In fact, last year alone, law enforcement authorities made at least 1.1 million requests to mobile carriers for your information.
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NYPD has a message for you iPhone and iPad folks pic.twitter.com/cxzHLpgh60
— Jim Rosenberg (@jimrosenberg) September 21, 2013
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For many police officers, their cruiser’s front seat is often their office — but a parked car isn’t always a safe car. With Surveillance Mode, Ford hopes to keep your city’s finest a little safer in the heat of the night. By combining its existing driver-assist tech — backup cameras, power door locks and cross-traffic alerts — the Dearborn automaker has devised a system to signal officers of a potential attack from behind. When a potential assailant crosses into the rear camera’s viewing range, Surveillance Mode sounds a chime, the windows roll up and the doors lock. This ought to give officers valuable extra time to apprise the situation at hand. It may not be a tumbler, but it’s a start.
Oh, and don’t fret about your local black and white’s sanity: Surveillance Mode can be deactivated at will, so gaggles of pedestrians won’t set off the alarm every five minutes.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Ford News Center
A recent city noise control ordinance in Boston has cops cracking down on roving rock shows that don’t take place in formal venues. So they’re posing as punk rockers online to sniff out concert locations so they shut them down more easily. Only problem is their police work reads like an out of touch parent trying to talk to a teen about that new fangled rock and/or roll. More »
Everybody hates getting a ticket, so what better way to take the edge off than delivering payment in an inconvenient, quirky way? That’ll really show those cops who’s boss! More »
It’s not the backdoor access that the FBI has been pushing for, but US District Judge William Pauley III has now ruled that it and other law enforcement agencies are entitled to view your Facebook profile if one of your “friends” gives them permission to do so. As GigaOm reports, that ruling comes as part of a New York City racketeering trial, in which one of the accused, Melvin Colon, had tried to suppress evidence turned up on Facebook that led to his indictment. That information was obtained through an informant who gave investigators access to the profile, something that Colon had argued violated his rights against unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment. In the ruling, Judge Pauley dismissed that claim, likening the Facebook access instead to a phone wiretap in which one person on the call allows the government to monitor it — a practice that has been ruled constitutional. GigaOm also has the ruling in its entirety at the source link below for those interested.
Filed under: Internet
Judge rules Facebook users can share friends’ profiles with the feds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cop movies are so predictable: Bad Guy does bad thing. Good Guy (cop) chases bad guy. Good Guy (cop) saves woman from Bad Guy, but Bad Guy gets away. Good Guy (cop) has sex with woman. Bad Guy does another bad thing; Good Guy (cop) gives chase. Bad Guy gets the drop on Good Guy (cop). Briefly. Good Guy (cop) escapes and apprehends/kills Bad Guy. The end. More »
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