Featured Paper: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

I'd like to highlight a new student paper by Craig Roush, a law student at Marquette University Law School. The full title is: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Limits on Widespread Surveillance and Intelligence Gathering By Local Law Enforcement After 9/11. Craig analyzes the changes in intelligence and surveillance gathering after 9/11 and in particular, the way in which local law enforcement has become intricately involved in the process. He goes on to identify the implications of such practices on civil liberties, and concludes by offering...

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11th Circuit finds reasonable a 25-day delay in submitting warrant application to search computer

In United States v. Laist, the Eleventh Circuit held that a government delay of 25 days from the defendant's revocation of consent to search a computer until a search warrant application was submitted did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The distribution of child pornography was tracked to the defendant's home, and law enforcement went to search. Upon arrival, the defendant admitted to possession of child pornography and signed a consent form allowing the search and seizure of his computer. A week later, the defendant withdrew his consent by...

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$299 software allows decryption of volumes with FireWire attack or the computer's hibernation or memory dump file

Software developer Elcomsoft has released a $299 software package claiming to be able to decrypt BitLocker, PGP, and TrueCrypt volumes. The software is able to obtain encryption keys from the computer's hibernation file or memory dump file and can also perform a FireWire attack if the encrypted volume is mounted. Here's their description of how the keys are obtained: Generally, the choice of one of the three attacks depends on the running state of the PC being analyzed. It also depends on whether or not installation of a forensic tool is possible...

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Vermont Supreme Court upholds search warrant conditions requiring screening in computer search

The Vermont Supreme Court has held that a judge may attach ex ante conditions to a search warrant in an attempt to protect privacy of those searched. The judge issuing the warrant had specified that a search of electronic devices had to be conducted through a third party and restricted evidence of crimes unrelated to the specified crime of identity theft from being shared with investigators. The court did, however, strike down a condition prohibiting the use of the plain view doctrine. In re Application for Search Warrant (2010-479), 2012...

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Fifth Circuit strikes down Mississippi law making "non-harmful" caller ID spoofing illegal

In Teltech Systems, Inc. v. Bryant, No. 12-60027 (5th Cir. 2012), the Fifth Circuit held that a Mississippi law making it illegal to spoof caller ID information was preempted by a federal law which only made spoofing for harmful purposes illegal. In 2010, Mississippi enacted the Caller ID Anti-Spoofing Act which made it a misdemeanor for a person to spoof the identity or phone number of a caller. A federal law enacted later that year made it illegal to spoof such information "with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain...

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Jones II: District court holds that SCA's lack of suppression remedy and the good faith exception allows admission of CSLI

In the continuing saga of the case against Antoine Jones, the DC district court has held that the use of Jones's cell site location information does not violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Jones, No. 05-0386 (D.D.C. 2012). In January, the Supreme Court ruled that location information acquired as a result of law enforcement placing a GPS device on Jones's car could not be used at trial as it violated the Fourth Amendment. During the initial investigation, law enforcement obtained both GPS data and cell site data but only sought...

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Maryland appellate court applies good faith exception to GPS use because of prior adoption of Knotts rationale

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland recently held that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule from Davis applies to pre-Jones GPS use because of the state's adoption of the Supreme Court's decision in Knotts. Kelly v. State, Nos. 2479 & 2679 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2012). In case you're in need of a criminal procedure refresher, I'll go over what all of that means. First, we know that the Fourth Amendment generally requires a probable cause search warrant in order to conduct a search. Thus, we have to know what is...

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WI Governor calls for GPS tracking of individuals with domestic violence restraining order against them

Since we talk a lot about GPS tracking, I thought this was an interesting proposal. As the article states, the recent Azana Salon shooting here in Wisconsin was committed by an estranged husband with a domestic violence restraining order in place. With the rash of recent shootings here in Wisconsin (Azana Salon and Sikh temple shooting), as well as the tragedy in Newtown, it appears politicians have been compelled to act. The question always remains, does the legislation or proposal alleviate the issue it is trying to achieve, or is it an overreaction...

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WSJ releases study of website user data sharing with third parties

The Wall Street Journal has compiled a list of 70 popular American websites that require registration and analyzed them based on how they share user data. For each entry, they report whether the user's e-mail address, name, username, age, and zip code are shared and to which website(s) that information is given. Each entry also contains a response from the website as well as the recipient websites if they company responded to the WSJ's inquiry. In the study, they learned that the Wall Street Journal itself was sharing e-mail addresses and names...

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Eighth Circuit holds testimony that adults rarely seek actual minors online can be impeached, affirms conviction

In United States v. Grauer, No. 11-3852 (8th Cir. 2012), the Eighth Circuit affirmed the conviction of a man for enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography over multiple arguments from the defendant. As part of an ICAC investigation, an Iowa deputy sheriff, pretending to be a 14-year-old girl, engaged in multiple instant messaging conversations with the defendant. The conversations were often of a sexual nature and involved the defendant sending pornography to the "girl," and the two ultimately decided to meet. The defendant was...

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Anonymous announces plans to "destroy" Westboro Baptist, releases personal contact information for members

Hacktivist group Anonymous announced today the start of an attack on Westboro Baptist Church with the release of e-mail addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, and more for over fifty of the church's members. The announcement is in response to Westboro's announced plans to picket funerals in the wake of Friday's school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. In a video released along with the contact information, the group announced: Since your one-dimensional thought protocol will conform not to any modern logic, we will not debate,...

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Fifth Circuit surprises no one with decision that accessing another's text messages on their cell phone doesn't violate SCA

In Garcia v. City of Loredo, Texas, No. 11-41118 (5th Cir. 2012), the Fifth Circuit held that a person accessing text messages and images on the cell phone of another does not violate the Stored Communications Act (SCA). Those of you who have ever studied the SCA are certainly not surprised. Garcia worked as a police dispatcher, and the wife of a coworker took Garcia's phone from her locker at work. After finding text messages and photos that showed department policy violations, the coworker's wife set up a meeting with the deputy assistant city...

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FBI job applicant fails polygraph, admits to CP possession, and asks if it would slow his application. It did.

Working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation is a dream of many Americans. The famed agency has - rather understandably - a difficult hiring process including a polygraph. I'm assuming questions concern possible crimes the job candidate has committed as well as generally making sure they are not a threat to national security. When Dominick Pelletier appeared for a job interview with the FBI, he was escorted to the polygraph room where the types of questions were explained to him. Pelletier became nervous about the potential for questions about...

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Austrian Tor node operator's home searched in child pornography investigation

An Austrian man's home was recently and his computers seized in an investigation related to child pornography distribution. His involvement concerned the operation of Tor on his computer, which allowed others to hide their Internet activity by having their data encrypted and transmitted through others' computers.  Mr. Weber, likely to be charged with child pornography crimes, never actively possessed such files if this is true, though they may have been sent through his computer. In the Tor network, files are transferred along a...

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Weindl: Why the court got it right, and the FBI agent/father shouldn't be viewed as a government agent

You'll have to forgive my co-blogger and me for turning our blog into a blog almost entirely about this Weindl case (United States v. Weindl, No. 1:12-CR-00017 (D.N.M.I. 2012), but as you're probably well-aware by now, it's an important case on the issues presented - and one likely to be appealed to the Ninth Circuit after the trial. It's not often that Justin and I disagree. But in this case, while I find noble his attempt to argue for strengthened privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment, I cannot say that I find his reasoning...

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Weindl (FBI agent's spyware vs. principal) - Why the court got it wrong

In this second post, I will explain my reasons for believing the court's reasoning in Weindl was flawed. The Weindl case, as a quick recap, involved a principal (Weindl) who was caught with child pornography after using a laptop assigned to the son of an FBI agent (Auther); the laptop was returned by Auther with spyware on it. For my original write-up of the facts of the case, see: Principal caught with CP when FBI agent returns son's school laptop with spyware still on it; court denies suppression. I also wrote a quick follow-up...

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District court upholds CSLI order with erroneous phone number, finds defendant doesn't have standing

In United States v. Cannon, No. 6:11-cr-02302 (D.S.C. 2012), the court held that a typographical error did not violate an order for cell site data and that the defendant's failure to prove he had an interest in the phone removed his ability to challenge the search for lack of standing. The defendant had been charged with multiple crimes related to the distribution of drugs. As part of the investigation, law enforcement obtained GPS data from his cell phone company. He filed a motion to suppress, arguing that the data was obtained in violation...

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Weindl - FBI agent spyware v. principal attracts attention and misinformation

Since I wrote about United States v. Weindl on November 28th, Principal caught with CP when FBI agent returns son's school laptop with spyware still on it; court denies suppression, the story was picked up by Kashmir Hill at Forbes (by way of Eric Goldman), An FBI Dad's Misadventures With Spyware Exposed School Principal's Child Porn Searches, and from there spread like wildfire to various other sites. Today, Robert X. Cringely, on his Infoworld blog "Notes from the field" highlighted the story as well - School...

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Cal. Court: Sex offender registration for CP but not statutory rape does not violate Equal Protection

In People v. Gonzales, No. E054886 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012), the Court of Appeals of California held that it is not a violation of the Equal Protection clause to require sex offender registration for child pornographers but not statutory rapists. The defendant pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. The defendant had argued that the sex offender registration requirement violated the Equal Protection Clause because it did not require those convicted of statutory rape to register. The motion was denied during sentencing, and he was ordered...

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