Completed Surveillance Plane Waits Constitutionality Verdict The ACLU challenged Baltimore’s use of an aerial crime surveillance plane, claiming the surveillance program infringes on privacy rights. Supporters merely say the technology is controversial, not unconstitutional. Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun | March 9, 2021 | News
(TNS) Aerial surveillance may be finished in Baltimore, but opponents asked a federal appellate court on Monday to find that it is unconstitutional and help guide what happens to data collected during its months in flight last year.
The two-plus-hour hearing, which took place in front of the entire 15-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, was split between judges asking whether they should weigh in in the first place, and others questioning the merits of the technology.
Opponents asked a federal appellate court on Monday to find that Baltimore's spy plane program was unconstitutional and help guide what happens to data collected during its months in flight last year.
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Europol, the EU s law enforcement intelligence agency, and the European Commission are launching a new decryption platform to help law enforcement agencies decrypt data that has been obtained as part of a criminal investigation.
By circumventing encryption rather than weakening it, Europol s approach aims to satisfy both law enforcement agencies and privacy advocates, says Jim Killock, executive director at the Open Rights Group. Where police are authorized by an independent authority to gain passwords or crack a device, then getting around encryption is legitimate, he says. What is not legitimate is weakening encryption for the vast majority of us who are innocent bystanders and need security from crime, or stockpiling knowledge of software vulnerabilities which expose everyone to ongoing risks from criminals.