Federal Judge Makes History in Holding That Border Searches of Cell Phones Require a Warrant

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May 30, 2023 | By Sophia Cope | Electronic Frontier Foundation |

With United States v. Smith (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 2023), a district court judge in New York made history by being the first court to rule that a warrant is required for a cell phone search at the border, “absent exigent circumstances” (although other district courts have wanted to do so).

EFF is thrilled about this decision, given that we have been advocating for a warrant for border searches of electronic devices in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade. If the case is appealed to the Second Circuit, we urge the appellate court to affirm this landmark decision.

The Border Search Exception as Applied to Physical Items Has a Long History
U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) asserts broad authority to conduct warrantless, and often suspicionless, device searches at the border, which includes ports of entry at the land borders, international airports, and seaports.

For a century, the Supreme Court has recognized a border search exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, allowing not only warrantless but also often suspicionless searches of luggage and other items crossing the border.

The number of warrantless device searches at the border and the significant invasion of privacy they represent is only increasing. In Fiscal Year 2022, CBP conducted an all-time high of 45,499 device searches.

The Supreme Court has not yet considered the application of the border search exception to smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices that contain the equivalent of millions of pages of information detailing the most intimate details of our lives—even though we asked them to back in 2021.

Circuit Courts Have Narrowed the Border Search Exception’s Application to Digital Data
Federal appellate courts, however, have considered this question and circumscribed CBP’s authority.

The Ninth Circuit in United States v. Cano (2019) held that a warrant is required for a device search at the border that seeks data other than “digital contraband” such as child pornography. Similarly, the Fourth Circuit in United States v. Aigbekaen (2019) held that a warrant is required for a forensic device search at the border in support of a domestic criminal investigation.

These courts and the Smith court were informed by Riley v. California (2014). In that watershed case, the Supreme Court held that the police must get a warrant to search an arrestee’s cell phone.

The Smith Court Rightly Applied the Riley Balancing Test
In our advocacy, we have consistently argued that Riley’s analytical framework should inform whether the border search exception applies to cell phones and other electronic devices. This is precisely what the Smith court did: “In holding that warrants are required for cell phone searches at the border, the Court believes it is applying in straightforward fashion the logic and analysis of Riley to the border context.”

In Riley, the Supreme Court applied a balancing test, weighing the government’s interests in warrantless and suspicionless access to cell phone data following an arrest, against an arrestee’s privacy interests in the depth and breadth of personal information stored on modern cell phones.

In analyzing the government’s interests, the Riley Court considered the traditional reasons for authorizing warrantless searches of an arrestee’s person: to protect officers from an arrestee who might use a weapon against them, and to prevent the destruction of evidence.

The Riley Court found only a weak nexus between digital data and these traditional reasons for warrantless searches of arrestees. The Court reasoned that “data on the phone can endanger no one,” and the probability is small that associates of the arrestee will remotely delete digital data.

The Riley Court also detailed how modern cell phones can in fact reveal the “sum of an individual’s private life,” and thus individuals have significant and unprecedented privacy interests in their cell phone data.

On balance, the Riley Court held that the traditional search-incident-to-arrest exception to the warrant requirement does not apply to cell phones.

The Smith court properly applied the Riley balancing test in the border context, noting that travelers’ privacy interests in their digital data are also significant:

Continue reading HERE.

The Internet of Things: How It’s Changing Cars

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June 10, 2023 | By Olasubomi Gbenjo | Make Use Of |

As cars get increasingly connected, the internet will change how they operate and how we interact with them.

Cars’ primary function is to move us from one point to another. But what changes when your car can connect to the internet?

As with most items and products that are re-engineered with the Internet of Things (IoT), they become even more powerful and useful in our daily lives.

With the Internet of Things becoming an integral part of many industries, let’s explore how this technology is changing the design and function of modern vehicles.

1. Smartphone and Vehicle Integration
Mirroring your smartphone through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and MirrorLink gives you the same smartphone user experience that you’re used to but displayed directly on your car’s screen, so you don’t actually have to look at your phone while driving. Interestingly, one automotive giant, General Motors, announced it was developing its own smartphone-like in-car operating system that will negate the need for mirroring in the future.

The appeal of having such intelligent and highly connected cars stems from their capacity to facilitate a bidirectional exchange of information. This has already changed how you interact with your car since now your smartphone replaces the traditional key fob while also allowing you to change various settings remotely. From your phone screen, you can also confirm doors are locked or survey the area you’re parked in for any suspicious activity.

In a shared family car, the operating system recognizes each driver based on their phones and individual profiles and adjusts the car settings automatically based on their preference and history.

2. Telematics
Chances are your car has an onboard diagnostic port, which is part of the vehicle’s telematics system. It is a system that monitors your car and collects details such as the speed, mileage, and performance. With IoT, these systems could become even more sophisticated, collecting even more information like how often you use your seat belts or how harshly you brake. With the data it gathers, it creates a unique driving profile.

When connected to the internet, it can share this information in two ways: with you or with your insurance provider. You get all that information on your smartphone, and it could provide insight into what driving habits may be causing damage to your car. Your insurance provider could also access your driver’s profile, and that could shave off a decent percentage of your premium costs if you’ve been adhering to the highest driving standards or help tailor your insurance plan to meet your needs.

Basic forms of this are already implemented in some cars, but this type of tech is sure to improve and become more commonplace in the future. Tesla’s Safety Score monitors your driving and is probably the most advanced such system. It even affects your insurance premiums, so it gives you an incentive to improve your Safety Score, and generally just drive responsibly.

3. Fleet Management
Managing a fleet of vehicles, planning routes, or tracking cargo involves dealing with a huge amount of data, which can be tedious and highly prone to errors. However, modern telematics solutions have systems that can collect a broad range of data, from the precise location of the driver and the condition of the cargo to the speed and mileage of the vehicle.

This offers several benefits for the logistics and fleet management industries. It becomes easier to plan and coordinate trips as well as track progress in real-time. Managers are better equipped to make timely decisions that significantly reduce risks and financial losses.

4. Connected Cars
Another way cars may change for the better with the implementation of IoT in the automotive industry is their capacity to exchange information on the road. Cars will be able to communicate with each other and the surrounding smart infrastructure to prevent accidents and ensure safe and efficient travel.

There’s an equal mix of challenges and benefits associated with connected cars. At tollgates, your car could make instant payments. When your car detects a particular number of cars on a route or notices an accident or obstruction ahead, it can quickly arrange an alternative route to prevent traffic congestion and get you to your destination in good time. This is an evolution of the advanced navigation solutions that we already have access to, and it should make driving safer and easier. However, with improved connectivity will also come increased cybersecurity risks.

5. Autonomous Vehicles
Self-driving cars aren’t much of a myth anymore, thanks to the likes of Tesla and Waymo, but most established automakers already offer reliable semi-autonomous cars and are working on vehicles that won’t need a driver. Modern cars are increasingly equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to enhance driving safety, and these systems could benefit from IoT integration.

While you still need to pay attention, so that you can take over whenever the car encounters an unusual situation, there are already production cars that can complete short trips on the highway with little to no driver assistance, maintain and switch lanes accordingly, and act as a human driver would in a typical driving situation.

You may feel queasy about giving up total control of the car. However, you could regard these systems in your car as a sophisticated driving companion that helps you reach your destination safely by not only driving the vehicle for you but also providing you with information on your surroundings that you would not have otherwise had.

6. Driver Welfare
According to an American Driving Survey report, drivers spent an average of 61 minutes a day driving in 2021, which totaled 90 billion hours at the end of the year. Spending all that time in an IoT-powered vehicle means that your car could also keep an eye on you, the way it observes its surroundings.

Your car could check your vital levels and share that report with you in real time. Some cars already monitor you and can, for instance, detect if you’re distracted and sound an alert to get your attention back on the road. In the future, if the car deems you unfit to drive (like in the event of a medical emergency), it could switch to self-driving to ensure your safety and that of other road users.

Cars can already call emergency services automatically if they detect an accident, but in the future they could contact relevant emergency centers and transmit details of the situation and perhaps your medical records (depending on how integrated your car is with your personal devices). A connected and intelligent onboard first aid system could also be created to assess such situations and dispense quick, accurate medical solutions.

7. Predictive Maintenance System
As your car becomes a part of the Internet of Things, it becomes smart enough to record and track the level of wear on its parts. By doing this, the vehicle will alert you of failures before they happen, minimizing the chance of a breakdown that leaves you stranded.

Car manufacturers can remotely monitor the vehicle’s status and dispatch over-the-air software updates to fix bugs and minor issues. If it’s more serious, the car could pre-order the parts or immediately schedule an appointment with the repair shop.

Conclusion
Technology exists to transform our lives, from simplifying processes to providing more utility. The Internet of Things in the automotive industry certainly does both.

Driving can become less tedious as modern cars offer more valuable features. So, you can enjoy a better navigation system, stay connected, and not worry about valet parking if your autonomous car can park itself.

Read the original article HERE.

California’s Digital Privacy Battle: It’s Police Vs. Civil Libertarians, With An Abortion Twist

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June 2, 2023 | Kristen Hwang | CalMatters |

On March 1, 2019, 38-year-old Adbadalla Thabet arrived at a Bank of America in the Paramount neighborhood of Los Angeles to deposit cash from a string of gas stations he helped his family manage. As he parked, two other vehicles — one red, one gray — approached from behind. The driver of the gray vehicle shot and killed Thabet while the driver of the red vehicle took his backpack and sped away, court documents show.

Law enforcement suspected the two of following Thabet throughout the morning as he visited the family’s gas stations to collect money. A “reverse search warrant” allowed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to demand that Google surrender identifying information of every device with a Google account at six locations Thabet visited during a five-hour window. The evidence collected from that warrant was used to prosecute Daniel Meza and Walter Meneses.

Meza pleaded guilty and Meneses pleaded no contest.

Law enforcement use of these warrants — also known as reverse keyword demands and geofence warrants — has become increasingly common but are controversial among civil liberties groups. They contend such warrants are unconstitutional and an invasion of digital privacy.

A new bill would prevent such searches
On Thursday, lawmakers in the California Assembly narrowly advanced a digital privacy bill prohibiting police from using warrants that compel tech companies to disclose the identities of individuals based on the location of their phone and internet search history.

The bill, carried by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland, is part of the reproductive health package sponsored by the powerful Women’s Legislative Caucus and Future of Abortion Council, and is intended to protect the identities of people seeking abortion services or gender-affirming care. Abortion rights groups say stronger privacy protections are needed as more states move to criminalize abortion and transgender health care.

“People in California have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy in their reproductive health decisions,” Bonta said during the floor debate, which stalled one vote shy of passing before squeaking through the process.

Pushback from law enforcement
Google, which is typically the subject of these warrants, faced a more than 1,000% increase in location-based search warrants between 2018 and 2020, according to its own data — increasing from 982 to 11,554.

The measure mostly flew under the radar without opposition until a few weeks ago, when law enforcement agencies across the state began warning that it would impede their ability to solve a variety of crimes.

“We don’t have a problem with the purpose of the bill — it’s the breadth of the language,” said David Harris, assistant CEO of the California District Attorneys Association.

In a letter, the association said the bill “prevents the issuance of search warrants for critical information routinely used to help solve cases involving mass shootings, bombings, rapes, child pornography, and a host of other crimes.”

What civil liberties groups say
Civil liberties groups, on the other hand, say in the modern era these types of warrants easily skirt the requirement of probable cause needed for a search warrant of a physical location. They give law enforcement broad discretion to demand the identification of people who have nothing to do with a crime.

“Instead of finding the needle in the haystack, it’s saying give me the haystack and maybe the needle will be in there,” said Hayley Tsukayama, senior legislative activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which co-sponsored the bill. “Particularly in a post-Dobbs era, it would be very easy to target reproductive health clinics.”

In April a state appellate court ruled that the geofence warrant used by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in the Thabat murder violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Harris said law enforcement still needs to present strong evidence to a judge that the culprits will be caught for digital search warrants to be granted. While specific warrants have been found unconstitutional, the practice itself has not been ruled as such, Harris said.

Where things stand
In a late-night deal ahead of the vote, Bonta agreed to work with law enforcement to “narrowly scope” the bill to protect abortion clinics and gender-affirming care. The measure will move to the Senate for further amendments and consideration.

“I commit to that. I am an author that does that consistently,” Bonta said from the floor.

Tsukayama said the last-minute deal was “a compromise for sure,” but her organization recognizes the immediate need to protect people who come to California for abortion or gender-affirming care.

“We would like to see them not used at all, but when we’re having discussions of how to focus the bill in response to opposition, we wanted to give the strongest protections to the groups that are the most vulnerable and are under attack,” Tsukayama said.

Read the original article HERE.

Voice calling is finally making its way onto 5G

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May 25, 2023 | By Mike Dano | LightReading |

US operators including Verizon and AT&T first launched 5G networking technology in 2018. Since then they’ve been working to expand and improve those networks.

Now, roughly five years later, they’re starting to push one of their core services onto 5G: voice calling.

“AT&T is testing VoNR [Voice over 5G New Radio] in the lab and plans to move to early field validation later this year,” a representative wrote in response to recent questions from Light Reading.

Verizon officials didn’t respond to questions on the topic, but FierceWireless reported recently that the operator isn’t setting a public timeline for when it might offer VoNR.

Meanwhile, both T-Mobile and Dish Network have reported substantial progress in putting voice calling onto their own respective 5G networks. For example, T-Mobile recently said it is expanding the availability of the VoNR service it first launched last year, with the goal of providing it to 100 million people “in the coming months.” And Dish’s Charlie Ergen said earlier this month the company would offer VoNR across the “vast majority” of its 5G network later this year.

To be clear, there’s no real rush to put most voice calls onto 5G because T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all operate 4G networks that can handle the service just fine. The situation is slightly different for Dish because it does not operate a 4G network; however, the company has MVNO agreements with both AT&T and T-Mobile that can satisfy its calling needs.

A focus on data
Of course, voice calling was the primary service offered by mobile carriers in the early days of the cellular industry. Data services like text messaging and Internet access arrived in the 2G era, but became a focus amid the rollout of 3G and 4G. As a result, operators began offering voice calling for free with the goal of making profits from the sale of data services.

Moreover, voice calling proved to be a difficult proposition on wireless networks designed for IP-based data services. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) was designed to transmit voice calls over 4G networks, but making the technology work required a significant amount of technical expertise. Indeed, some smaller wireless network operators in the US are still working to fully deploy VoLTE across their networks.

So why are operators focusing on VoNR now, particularly as they work to reduce their network expenses? According to T-Mobile, 5G VoNR supports “slightly faster call set-up times, meaning less delay between the time they dial a number and when the phone starts ringing.”

But VoNR is also part of a broader effort by US and international carriers to shift all of their network traffic onto 5G. Doing so allows them to use their spectrum more efficiently, and thereby support more customers and faster speeds.

But there’s one more hiccup in the pursuit of VoNR: It uses a standalone (SA) 5G core. And deploying SA 5G technology has proven a difficult proposition for many US and international operators.

Thus, it’s likely that VoNR will follow the same broad trajectory as VoLTE: It will be deployed relatively slowly, and few customers will notice much of a difference when they use it.

Read the original article HERE.

Can ChatGPT help law enforcement?

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May 18, 2023 | By Joshua Lee | Police1 |

Here’s what to know about this powerful chatbot that uses deep learning to produce humanlike text

In November 2022, the artificial intelligence lab OpenAI released ChatGPT, a powerful autoregressive language model chatbot that uses deep learning to produce humanlike text.

The system sounds nerdy and complicated, but it is quite simple to use and can potentially revolutionize how police departments operate.

How do I know this? Because ChatGPT told me so.

Police agencies are experiencing shortages of personnel. To make matters worse, smarter and more technically sound criminals are organizing together, making them harder to catch. And many nongovernmental organizations are pressuring agencies to help solve complicated social problems like homelessness and mental health. This is where AI technology can help.

AI and deep learning programs may seem new, but they are used in various functions like RMS, video analysis tools and facial recognition. AI is becoming more accepted and normalized in society, cheaper to manage and operate, and significantly smarter than just a few years ago.

Disclaimer: ChatGPT is an open-source language model that requires technical experience to deploy and use effectively. The system is also still learning and should not be used as an exclusive problem-solving tool. People, think tanks, nonbiased academic research and common sense should still be used as primary problem-solving tools, and AI tools like ChatGPT should not be a cure-all for law enforcement issues. Be aware that OpenAI holds information temporarily on its servers so the system can learn, so it should not be used for police-sensitive data. It should only be used as an aid to investigation.

I’ve used ChatGPT for academics since it was released to the public, so I decided to ask ChatGPT what it could do to help police agencies. It gave me the following recommendations.

PROCESS LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA
ChatGPT can process large amounts of data “quickly and efficiently.” This feature is especially beneficial for command staff and analysts. ChatGPT can analyze both numbers and word data sets and produce written summaries of the data. Chat GPT can also find issues in code scripts and is proficient in Python and Java.

I have used ChatGPT to fix coding scripts and come up with specific codes. Being able to code quickly is important for operating cell phone or computer extraction tools.

TRANSCRIBE AND ANALYZE AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDINGS
I personally have used this feature to transcribe audio from both videos and audio recordings. ChatGPT does an excellent job filtering out background noise and splitting audio transcriptions of multiple people. Even more impressive is its ability to translate foreign languages. If an officer records an interaction and does not understand what everyone is saying, the officer can later upload the audio and transcribe it into the language of their choice.

Chat GPT’s video analyzing tools are still being developed, but there is a potential for the system to use the biometrics of one person, then use those biometrics to find that same person in another video source. It is only a matter of time before that option will be available.

ADVANCED PATTERN RECOGNITION
ChatGPT can find patterns and connections in data. This feature is especially exciting for analysts and financial investigators. “If an officer is looking for a suspect in a series of crimes, ChatGPT can analyze data from each crime scene and look for similarities in the way the crimes were committed,” the system reports. Analysts can extract data from nearly any source, put it into ChatGPT and ask ChatGPT to solve or find what they are looking for.

The advanced pattern recognition feature can also use historical data to predict future crimes. I personally have not used this feature for police application, but I did upload a few months’ worth of my personal credit card data, and it was able to determine that I pay bills the same week each month and, more important, my wife likes to go shopping on Tuesdays when I go back to work.

Even though these examples are still under research and development, AI technology and deep learning tools like ChatGPT can prove beneficial for police agencies. Police agencies shouldn’t shy away from AI but learn to use it responsibly and ethically. Even ChatGPT agrees and recognizes the ethical consequences of AI and policing by writing, “ChatGPT should be used in compliance with relevant laws and regulations and … in accordance with ethical guidelines. It should be used as an aid and not as a replacement for human judgment.”

I am a big supporter of AI in police technology. I believe it can help police agencies solve some of our more complex problems, including socioeconomic and personnel allocation issues. AI technology is here to stay, and with the release of ChatGPT and the possible release of Google’s LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), AI chatbots will only get smarter.

Read the original article HERE.