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Supreme Court rules that warrant is needed to access cell tower records
In a major win for privacy rights, the Supreme Court put new restraints on law enforcement’s access to the ever-increasing amount of private information about Americans available in the digital age. In the specific case before the court, the justices ruled that authorities generally must obtain a warrant to gain access to cell-tower records that can provide a virtual timeline and map of a person’s whereabouts. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 5 to 4 decision, in which he was joined by the court’s liberal members. The majority declared that the Fourth Amendment guarantees an expectation of privacy and that allowing police to obtain moment-by-moment tracking of an individual's cellphone location is a kind of surveillance that the framers of the Constitution did not want to occur without a search warrant. It was an example of what Chief Justice Roberts has called one of the greatest challenges for the court: applying the Constitution and the court’s precedents to technology that evolves more quickly than the law. He stressed, however, that this is a narrowly focused opinion that leaves intact other precedents when it comes to dealing with financial information, banking and office records. Chief Justice Roberts noted that the decision also allows for warrantless cell-tower location information searches in emergencies and for national-security purposes.
CA bill could give Californians unprecedented control over data
Lawmakers in CA have introduced a sweeping privacy bill to the state legislature that would give Californians unprecedented control over their data and reign in the power of their Silicon Valley neighbors. The bill would allow California residents to find out what information businesses and data brokers collect about them, where that information comes from, and how it's shared. It would give people the power to ask for their data to be deleted and to order businesses to stop selling their personal information. It places limits on selling data on users younger than 16 years of age, and prohibits businesses from denying service to users for exercising their rights under the bill. For now, the legislation only applies to California residents. But as long as congressional gridlock stifles any efforts to develop nationwide privacy rules in Washington, bill co-sponsor CA State Sen Robert Hertzberg (D-CA-40) expects this bill to serve as a model for other state governments. "Once this is done, you'll see a copy of this bill passed in all 50 capitols, because we don't have confidence in the federal government," he says. "There’s been a real resurgence in states being the incubators of democracy."
Disruptive Competition in 5G: T-Mobile and Sprint Submit Their Public Interest Statement
On April 29, 2018, T-Mobile US and Sprint announced that the companies would merge. In the telecom world, an announcement like this always means at least one thing: a really long engagement. After the companies come to a merger agreement, regulators get a chance to review the deal. By law, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must determine whether the proposed transfer of control will serve the “public interest, convenience, and necessity.” In its review, the FCC may impose and enforce narrowly tailored, transaction-specific conditions that address any potential harms of a transaction. The FCC will signal it is reviewing the terms of the deal when it puts it out for public comment, after which the FCC will start the informal 180-day shot clock on the deal. The Department of Justice will also review the deal, but on narrower, economically-focused antitrust grounds. The filing by T-Mobile and Sprint was made official at the FCC. Now, we can take a look at what the companies officially claim will be the public interest benefits.
Apparently, National Enquirer sent stories about Trump to his attorney Michael Cohen before publication
Apparently during the 2016 presidential campaign, National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid’s articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen in advance of publication — an unusual practice that speaks to the close relationship between Trump and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company. Although the company strongly denies ever sharing such material before publication, apparently the sharing of material continued after Trump took office. “Since Trump’s become president and even before, [Pecker] openly just has been willing to turn the magazine and the cover over to the Trump machine,” said one of the people with knowledge of the practice. During the campaign, “if it was a story specifically about Trump, then it was sent over to Michael, and as long as there were no objections from him, the story could be published,” this person added.
Chairman Pai tours Boise (ID) VA facilities to discuss 'tele-healthcare'
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai swung through Boise (ID) to meet with healthcare professionals at the Veterans Affairs hospital. Chairman Pai discussed “tele-healthcare” with VA officials on the tail end of his tour that touched 30 states. While his visit was not related to network neutrality, Chairman Pai said both were in line with his overall vision for how to connect America. “By the FCC’s standards, some 30 to 34 million Americans, disproportionately rural, don’t have high quality access to the internet, and that is a big problem,” Chairman Pai said. He said he chose Boise specifically because the VA services a number of veterans in rural areas through remote care. “It’s incredible some of the things they are doing at this Veterans Affairs facility,” he said. He said it is incidental that the tour and net neutrality’s end coincided but maintained both efforts share the same message. “I think it just delivers the message that I’ve consistently delivered since I became chair, is that we want to have light-touch regulation in Washington that enables better, faster and cheaper internet services around the country,” he said.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always
represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) -- we welcome your comments.
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