Privacy Law Commons^™

Private Prisons And The Need For Greater Transparency: Private Prison Information Act, Libbi L. Vilher

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Private prisons are not subject to the same regulations as government prisons. Particularly, private prisons are exempt from the requirements set forth in the Freedom of Information Act and its state equivalents, which provide that the public has an enforceable right to request certain records from government agencies. Numerous efforts made by members of Congress to enact the Private Prison Information Act, a bill that would subject private prisons to disclosure laws found in the Freedom of Information Act, have been unsuccessful. Such efforts to strip the veil of secrecy that shades private prisons from public scrutiny are especially important …

A Pantomime Of Privacy: Terrorism And Investigative Powers In German Constitutional Law, Russell A. Miller

Russell A. Miller

Germany is widely regarded as a global model for the privacy protection its constitutional regime offers against intrusive intelligence-gathering and law enforcement surveillance. There is some basis for Germany’s privacy “exceptionalism,” especially as the text of the German Constitution (“Basic Law”) provides explicit textual protections that America’s Eighteenth Century Constitution lacks. The German Federal Constitutional Court has added to those doctrines with an expansive interpretation of the more general rights to dignity (Basic Law Article 1) and the free development of one’s personality (Basic Law Article 2). This jurisprudence includes constitutional liberty guarantees such as the absolute protection of a …

Check Yes For Checkpoints: Suspicionless Stops And Ramifications For Missouri Motorists, Conner Harris

Missouri Law Review

One of the great advantages of living in a free society is the enjoyment of general privacy and freedom from unwarranted interference in one’s personal affairs. This advantage benefits citizens in both their private and public interactions. For example, it is expected one could drive to the store across town, the mall in a neighboring city, or somewhere on the other side of the country uninterrupted and unhindered. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution codifies this privacy expectation as a right to be enjoyed by all within its reach. Specifically, the Fourth Amendment protects against “unreasonable searches and …

The Regulatory Framework For Aerial Imaging By Recreational Users Of "Drones" In Singapore: Old And Emerging Issues And Some Possible Solutions, Siyuan Chen

Siyuan CHEN

In response to the sudden proliferation of hobbyist unmanned aerial vehicles used for digital imaging – or “drones”, as they are popularly, but rather inaccurately, labelled – the Singapore government enacted the Unmanned Aircraft (Public Safety and Security) Act in 2015 and also amended various existing laws relating to air navigation. However, in view of the rapid evolution in drone technology and the ever-expanding range of useful applications brought about by drones, what are some of the challenges that would be faced when enforcing the law against recreational users of aerial imaging in particular, and what are some of the …

Civil Liberty Or National Security: The Battle Over Iphone Encryption, Karen Lowell

Georgia State University Law Review

On June 5, 2013, Edward Snowden released what would be the first of many documents exposing the vast breadth of electronic surveillance the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) had been conducting on millions of United States citizens. Although the federal agencies had legal authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to collect metadata from companies such as Verizon, many Americans considered this data collection to be a massive invasion of privacy.

Equipped with the knowledge of sweeping domestic surveillance programs, citizens and technology firms fighting for strong privacy and security protection, have started …

The Regulatory Framework For Aerial Imaging By Recreational Users Of "Drones" In Singapore: Old And Emerging Issues And Some Possible Solutions, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In response to the sudden proliferation of hobbyist unmanned aerial vehicles used for digital imaging – or “drones”, as they are popularly, but rather inaccurately, labelled – the Singapore government enacted the Unmanned Aircraft (Public Safety and Security) Act in 2015 and also amended various existing laws relating to air navigation. However, in view of the rapid evolution in drone technology and the ever-expanding range of useful applications brought about by drones, what are some of the challenges that would be faced when enforcing the law against recreational users of aerial imaging in particular, and what are some of the …

The Criminal Justice Black Box, Samuel R. Wiseman

Scholarly Publications

"Big data "-- the collection and statistical analysis of numerous digital data points -- has transformed the commercial and policy realms, changing firms' understanding of consumer behavior and improving problems ranging from traffic congestion to drug interactions. In the criminal justice field, police now use data from widely dispersed monitoring equipment, crime databases, and statistical analysis to predict where and when crimes will occur, and police body cameras have the potential to both provide key evidence and reduce misconduct. But in many jurisdictions, digital access to basic criminal court records remains surprisingly limited, and, in contrast to the civil context, …

Exposure To Police Brutality Allows For Transparency And Accountability Of Law Enforcement, 33 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 75 (2017), Kendal Harden

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Thanks to the advancements in technology and valor of citizens, the public is finally able to understand the true severity of police brutality within the United States. The following considerations aim to address the lack of accountability and transparency of police brutality in the United States today. Part III will show how advancements in technology brings police brutality to the forefront of our nation’s issues by creating an informed society. Part IV will describe how individual states control the use of private cameras and cell phones of citizens to capture occurrences of police brutality. States do this by employing anti-wiretapping …

Carpenter V. United States: Brief Of Scholars Of Criminal Procedure And Privacy As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Andrew Ferguson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Amici curiae are forty-two scholars engaged in significant research and/or teaching on criminal procedure and privacy law. This brief addresses issues that are within amici’s particular areas of scholarly expertise. They have a shared interest in clarifying the law of privacy in the digital era, and believe that a review of scholarly literature on the topic is helpful to answering the question in this case. This brief is co-authored by Harry Sandick, Kathrina Szymborski, & Jared Buszin of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.Carpenter v. United States presents an opportunity to reconsider the Fourth Amendment in the digital age. Cell …

Privacy, Poverty, And Big Data: A Matrix Of Vulnerabilities For Poor Americans, Mary Madden, Michele E. Gilman, Karen Levy, Alice Marwick

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the matrix of vulnerabilities that low-income people face as a result of the collection and aggregation of big data and the application of predictive analytics. On one hand, big data systems could reverse growing economic inequality by expanding access to opportunities for low-income people. On the other hand, big data could widen economic gaps by making it possible to prey on low-income people or to exclude them from opportunities due to biases entrenched in algorithmic decision-making tools. New kinds of “networked privacy” harms, in which users are simultaneously held liable for their own behavior and the actions …