NACDL Fourth Amendment Center

Public Defenseless Podcast

11 Aug

@nacdl.org's Fourth Amendment Center is now on Bluesky! Follow us for the latest news and resources on new surveillance tools, technologies, and tactics that infringe on the constitutional rights of people in America.

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

@pdefenselesspod.bsky.social

21 Sept

Police had no suspect. So they got a warrant for every phone Google tracked inside a circle on a map. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3: that's a Fourth Amendment search. Jumana Musa (@nacdl.org) joins Hunter. Now available to Patreon subscribers: linktr.ee/pdefenseless...

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

Public Defenseless Podcast

@pdefenselesspod.bsky.social

Police got one warrant. After that, they and Google narrowed the list between themselves, no judge in the loop. Jumana Musa on the Chatrie ruling: pulling your location history is a Fourth Amendment search. Full episode: open.spotify.com/episode/3l42...

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

404media.coSurveillance Company Tells Cops It Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock CamerasA surveillance company wants to "close the gap" that Flock won't do, by pitching facial recognition on its cameras.

🧵A surveillance vendor is telling police it can add facial recognition to Flock camera data. Flock says it never will. Someone else is ready to jump in. New reporting from @404media.co: www.404media.co/surveillance...

The nationwide backlash against automatic license plate readers is “uniting Trump country and progressive strongholds alike,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Surveillance tech doesn’t distinguish between red and blue. Americans are crossing the aisle to stand up for civil liberties.

wsj.comRed and Blue America Have Found Something to Agree on: Flock Cameras Must GoA national backlash against AI-enabled license-plate readers is uniting Trump country and progressive strongholds alike.

Read the article for free with a gift link: www.wsj.com/us-news/red-...

The nationwide backlash against automatic license plate readers is “uniting Trump country and progressive strongholds alike,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

The article finds that “This year, more than 100 governments in blue and red towns have paused or ended Flock contracts, according to DeFlock, an opposition group. Local residents are organizing, protesting and digging through records.”

It’s not just Flock that has people upset. When @4ac.nacdl.org litigated Chatrie v. United States to challenge geofence warrants, groups from across the political spectrum joined in support of privacy rights for cell phone location data.

The nationwide backlash against automatic license plate readers is “uniting Trump country and progressive strongholds alike,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

From liberal Asheville, NC to conservative Oconee County, SC, communities are fighting back against government surveillance. Within days of each other, both places voted to stop using Flock cameras.

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

2 Sept

Lol. Axon: "We ain't them Flock snoopers you've learned to hate: we're a whole 'nother snooper you ain't hated yet!" 😆 Cops asked Axon to change their camera's shape "for the optics" while they "batten down the hatches." Same warrantless plate-tracking, new disguise. 👀 🧵 via @404media.co

Let us paint a picture: - Discovery requests are due - There’s some weird tech at play that you haven’t seen before or don’t know much about - You’re not sure what’s happening or what to ask for - Maybe you’re a little stressed Sound familiar?

The Checklist covers: - Facial Recognition - Device Searches - Geofences - Cell Site Location Information (CSLI) - Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) - Drones - Body Cams And more to come!

Part issue spotter, part model discovery request, it’ll help you cover your bases. And we can help with the rest.

nacdl.orgNACDL - Omnibus Tech Discovery ListA cross between an issue spotter and a samplediscovery demand, this is anall-in-one, cover-your-bases initial discovery checklist for many of the most commonly used categories of technology that you w...

Discovery is one of the hardest parts of litigating new surveillance tech. That’s why we built our Omnibus Tech Discovery Checklist

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

Council on Criminal Justice

@counciloncj.org

12 Aug

How can policymakers and law enforcement agencies balance the public safety potential of new technologies while ensuring the protection of privacy and civil liberties? 📆 Register now for CCJ’s next webinar on 8/25 at 12pm ET: events.zoom.us/ev/Ap36yA99J...

apnews.comNebraska's largest school district asks police to stop using electric shock gloves on studentsOmaha police agreed to stop carrying gloves that can deliver electric shocks in the halls of Nebraska's largest public school district.

21 Aug

Sadly, this news doesn't 'shock' us. Aggressive police tech & surveillance in schools have become the norm for youth today. More on this topic in our forthcoming report, "Algorithmic Adolescence." apnews.com/article/shoc...

wired.comFlock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its CodeFlock’s surveillance cameras have already sparked outrage. WIRED reconstructed its next-generation AI system, already in use by some police, to confirm it goes much further than tracking license plate...

19 Aug

ALPR systems like Flock track more than your license plate! They can also do pattern analysis and search by “a place, a stretch of time, and a pattern of behavior.” Sound familiar? A virtual panopticon by any other name… www.wired.com/story/flock-...

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

14 Aug

Automated License Plate Readers scan and log every car that passes, building a searchable record of where you've been. How can defenders challenge it? Join our 9/23 webinar on how police use networks like Flock, the constitutional stakes and how to fight it. Register: www.nacdl.org/Event/Engage...

washingtonpost.comFlock unveils changes after Post report on police misuse of vast camera networkThe license-plate-reader firm said it will require stricter oversight after a Washington Post investigation found dozens of officers had misused its cameras to spy on their exes and romantic interests...

How about you get a warrant!!!!! www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

What does the Supreme Court’s Chatrie decision mean for ALPRs like Flock?

nacdl.orgNACDL - Practice Advisory: Chatrie v. United States, What Defense Counsel Need to KnowOn June 29, 2026, the United States Supreme Court decided Chatrie v. United States, holding that the government’s use of a “geofence warrant” to obtain Google Location History data i...

Read our practice advisory to learn more: www.nacdl.org/Document/Pra...

Consider raising a challenge to ALPR evidence in your cases. Have an ALPR case and want assistance applying Chatrie? Reach out to us 4ac@nacdl.org.

What does the Supreme Court’s Chatrie decision mean for ALPRs like Flock?

Chatrie reasoned that even short-term surveillance can reveal “indisputably private” trips to “the psychiatrist, the plastic surgeon, the abortion clinic, the AIDS treatments center, the strip club, the criminal defense attorney, or the by-the-hour motel.” So can Flock!

Following Chatrie, police access to ALPR networks like Flock may be viewed as a search under the Fourth Amendment and require a warrant.

What does the Supreme Court’s Chatrie decision mean for ALPRs like Flock?

ALPRs blanket cities and streets and can recreate a person’s movements with precision, drawing on months or years of data. Some can even track people or objects.

Using companies like Flock, the government has created a network of ALPRs that can be just as revealing as cell phone location data.

What does the Supreme Court’s Chatrie decision mean for ALPRs like Flock?

Chatrie recognized that when the government can access an all-encompassing database of cell-user’s movements, it is armed with a “virtual panopticon” to scrutinize anyone’s activities on command.

nacdl.orgNACDL - Automated License Plate Readers PrimerThe below primer is a fact sheet on Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs). This software can runon a wide variety of video streamsand captures information about vehicles as they pass including the l...

ALPR networks like Flock are a “virtual panopticon” by another name: www.nacdl.org/Document/ALP...

What does the Supreme Court’s Chatrie decision mean for ALPRs like Flock?

Chatrie held that people have a privacy interest in their cell phone location history, even when it’s stored by a company and even for a short period of time. Police now need a warrant for that information under the Fourth Amendment.

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

11 Aug

🧵First came the Flock cameras. Now come the drones. Hundreds of police departments are rolling out autonomous, AI-driven surveillance drones that can follow one car across a whole city and film through your apartment window. A new @truthout.org report lays it out.

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted

10 Aug

"I don't think judges understand the country is now blanketed with these things and they're all interconnected." That is Sid Thaxter of NACDL's Fourth Amendment Center in The New York Times on Flock's creepy license plate cameras. They read your plate everywhere you drive. And they never forget.

NACDL Fourth Amendment Center reposted