Category Archives: Civil Liberties

The Fourth Amendment at Sea

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Via PogoWasRight a link to Coast Guard Boardings and Your Fourth Amendment Rights, Part 1. According to the author, the 4th Amendment has no traction at sea: the Coast Guard can board US flag ships at will, whether on the seas, on rivers, or in port, without the least suspicion.

Sorry, but when it comes to Coast Guard boardings, you don’t have any rights.

I’m surprised how many boaters don’t know this. The US Coast Guard can board your boat any time they want, and look anywhere they want, without probable cause or a warrant. They can do this on the open sea, or while you’re asleep aboard in your marina at midnight. They can look through your bedsheets, in your lockers, in your bilges, in your jewelry box, or in your pockets. They can do it carrying just their sidearms, or they can do it carrying assault rifles. They can be polite about it or they can be rude, but mostly they’re polite.

The article does not say, but I presume this even applies to houseboats?

Posted in Civil Liberties, Law: Constitutional Law | 1 Comment

Big Brother is WWWatching You (feat. George Orwell)

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Rap News 15:

Good stuff! Lots of cute in-jokes too.

Spotted via BoingBoing.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Cryptography, Internet, Law: Privacy | Comments Off on Big Brother is WWWatching You (feat. George Orwell)

Domestic Consequences of Being on Terrorist Watch List

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

I was very struck by this story from the periphery of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, Protester jailed, denies he’s a terrorist, in which a local police officer argued that an arrested protestor should be held without bail during the convention because he was on an (unspecified) national terrorist watch list — probably this one.

As far as I am aware, this is the first documented example of a non-air-travel-related domestic consequence of being on a ‘terrorist watch list’:

Tyson, who describes himself on his Facebook page as a carpenter with a “veggie farm,” says he has no idea how he wound up on the government’s terrorist watch list. He just wants to save the rain forest. The only dings on his record, at least as far as he knows, consist of fishing for trout out of season and driving while impaired.

The 27-year-old, known as “Jimmy” around Charlotte’s activist community, was pulled over Sunday near a building where protesters plan their demonstrations. He was charged with driving with a revoked license. And then he was thrown in jail under exceptionally high bail — $10,000.

The arresting officer asked a magistrate to keep him behind bars for the duration of the Democratic National Convention, which ends Thursday night. He advised against releasing Tyson on his promise to show up for court.

“Why do you feel suspect is a risk?” a bail sheet asked, and the officer wrote: “Known activist + protester who is currently on a terrorist watch list. Request he be held due to DNC being a National Special Security Event.”

I should note that from one prespective the system did work, after some delay.

Tyson spent Sunday night and most of Monday in jail. He called a legal hot line for protesters and was given an attorney, Derek Fletcher. The Charlotte lawyer got before a judge, Lisa Bell, on Monday and convinced her to lower Tyson’s bail to $2,500. He walked free on Monday night.

On the other hand, speech was chilled:

“I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide,” Tyson said as he left the Mecklenburg County Jail. “I believe this is an attempt to stifle my First Amendment rights and keep my voice from being heard.”

He said he was no longer interested in protesting during the convention, believing police had targeted him. “At this point,” he said, “I would like to go home and visit my parents and play with my dog.”

If the CNN article by Ted Metzger and Ann O’Neill is accurate, I think this small incident is actually a big deal.

Posted in 9/11 & Aftermath, Civil Liberties | 3 Comments

In These Desperate Times

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Credit: John Aravoisis

Posted in Civil Liberties | 5 Comments

Today’s Cool Fact of the Day (Double Bumper Edition)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

At first I thought this was surely the cool fact of the day: Global subway systems converge on common topologies. For example,

Patterns emerged: The core-and-branch topology, of course, and patterns more fine-grained. Roughly half the stations in any subway will be found on its outer branches rather than the core. The distance from a city’s center to its farthest terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system’s core. This happens again and again.

But really, I think this is the cool fact of the day: the opinion in Hedges v. Obama, in which a fairly newly appointed District Court Judge, Katherine Forrest, holds that a § 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act is unconstitutional. That vague provision could be read to give the US government authority to put US citizens in military detention for meeting with terrorists and writing about them.

It’s a nicely written opinion; the key move seems to be that the court described the plaintiffs’ activities in speaking, meeting and writing to the government, gave them plenty of time to consider the facts before the hearing, and the government was unwilling or unable to say that these first amendment activities were outside the scope of the statute. This tactical choice by the government also caused the Court to find that the plaintiffs had standing — not commonly the result in such cases. Similarly, the government’s unwillingness to give definite much less narrowing constructions to key statutory terms led the Court to hold the statute unconstitutionally vague.

This is really something — even though it’s just a preliminary injunction. That means there’s still the next round in the District Court, then an appeal to the 2nd Circuit, and perhaps beyond.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, National Security | 2 Comments

EFF Announces Coders’ Rights List

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

EFF has a new mailing list devoted to “the latest news on computer security law, upcoming events with EFF lawyers, discounts on infosec conferences like BlackHat, SOURCE, HOPE, and open source software events.” Sign me up.

There’s a wacky promo which I think someone had too much fun making:

Disclosure: I am on the EFF Advisory Board.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Cryptography, Internet | Comments Off on EFF Announces Coders’ Rights List