Tag Archives: privacy

Can police track your location via your cell phone without so much as obtaining a warrant? The answer, for now, is maybe. At issue is the practice of pinging a phone through the service carrier to create a real-time GPS or triangulation data point that law enforcement can use to figure out the phone’s location. A ruling issued in March by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the judges would “assume without deciding that pinging is a search.” …

Police cannot bring a dog to a private residence to sniff for drugs through the door, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in a 5-4 decision. In Florida v. Jardines, the court upheld a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that the area immediately around a person’s home is subject to Fourth Amendment protections against searches, and that using a drug dog to sniff around constitutes a search. Police officers were effectively trespassing when they walked to the front door …

Zip codes are considered personal information when it comes to Massachusetts consumer privacy laws, the state Supreme Court ruled last week in a decision that could have national implications for large retail chains. In Tyler v. Michaels Stores, the court unanimously agreed that “a zip code constitutes personal identification information” and therefore could not be solicited during credit card purchases unless the consumer volunteers to provide it, with the knowledge that it could be used for marketing purposes. The suit …

It’s pretty clear that using your employer’s email system for personal business is not a good idea and can get your fired; it could also send you to jail, if your emails reveal a crime. Employees have very little to no expectation of privacy in emails received through employer accounts. An employee at Aeropostale, the clothing company, found out that not only can his employer use a personal email to fire him, but the government can also use it against …

After all of the trouble Google has encountered in its attempts to monetize its users’ information, you would think the company had learned its lesson. Think again – consumer groups are angry that Google has reportedly been improperly sharing app purchasers’ info with third-party developers.   ‘Play’ For Keeps Third-party developers of applications made to run on Android phones and tablets sell their products through Google’s app store, Google Play. Google stores users’ purchasing information through its Wallet program, allowing …