Part 1: Entry: Pro Publica, Theodoric Meyer & Peter Maass-“8 Ways Police Can Invade Your Privacy Without a Warrant” Alternet, December 08, 2014
Part 2: Terminology/Keywords: Domain name
Phone Records
Location Data
IP Addresses
Email Drafts
Subpoenas
Cloud Data
Social Media
Part 3: Précis: The authors list and explain the many ways the police department can access a persons digital information such as their emails, texts, documents, IP addresses, and more. For most the police can simply get a subpoena which doesn’t’ require probable cause under the precedent set by U.S. v. Forrester. Recent emails require a warrant, while older ones can be obtained with a subpoena. Draft emails can also be accessed as its doesn’t fall under communication data. Text messages more than 180 days old can be obtained with a subpoena, Cloud data like Google Drive, also requires subpoena. Social media data can be sold and accessed by the police. The article addresses the outdated ways in which the police department apprehends criminals.
Part 4: Reflection: I find this article to be very insightful because I never knew how easily the police can track civilians. Its complex and can be confusing to those who are not familiar with surveillance. The authors also hints at the privacy concerns that comes giving up your data. Overall the article remains neutral and helps readers understand the current state of law enfacement.
Part 5: Quotables;
“Listening to your phone calls without a judge’s warrant is illegal if you’re a U.S. citizen. But police don’t need a warrant… to get just the numbers you called and when you called them.”
“Many courts have ruled that police don’t need a warrant… They only have to show that the data contains ‘specific and articulable facts’ related to an investigation — again, a lesser standard than probable cause”
“Police only need a court to sign off on a subpoena certifying that the data they’re after is relevant to an investigation”
“Investigators need only a subpoena, not a warrant, to get text messages more than 180 days old from a cell provider — the same standard as emails”


