Accused Dallas pimp Martavious Banks Keys was ordered by a federal judge to unlock his iPhone with his fingerprint.
Supreme Court has not ruled about compelled unlocking of fingerprint-locked devices.
A Dallas, Texas man accused of prostituting underage girls was secretly ordered by a federal judge to unlock his iPhone using his fingerprint, according to federal court documents that are now unsealed.
It's rare that we see a case demanding that a phone be unlocked in that manner, but we should expect more as the mainstream public begins embracing fingerprint technology. Ever since 2013, when Apple popularized this form of unlocking technology, legal experts have predicted that these types of government demands would slowly become more common. Experts also warned these demands are probably not a breach of the Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination.
As an aside, some courts don't necessarily think that compelling a suspect to reveal their computer passcode is a constitutional violation. A Philadelphia man accused of possessing child pornography has been behind bars on a contempt charge for more than seven months for refusing to divulge his password. The man's attorney claims it's a constitutional violation to compel his client to assist the authorities with their prosecution. A federal appeals court has tentatively agreed to hear the case in September as the suspect (who has not been charged with a crime) remains in prison. continued…
first published week of: 07/25/2016
When feds get new IT gear, they use it to solve old problems in old ways, according to a recent survey.
Only 3 percent of respondents to the Federal Leaders Digital Insight Survey said they were completely reimagining business processes with new technology, while 46 percent said they were using digital technology mainly to automate old paper-based processes.
According to the experts, if feds want to maximize technology's utility, they need to rethink the basics.
"You don't get the enormous bang for your buck if you don't break the processes you've got and just do something completely different," said Jeff Neal, ICF vice president and former chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security, in a Feb. 4 discussion of the results.
The survey of 10,000 feds by the National Academy of Public Administration and ICF found that government employees are doing more with new technology. Almost three-fourths of respondents said their agency's productivity had been boosted by technology, and 87 percent said they wanted more access to new technology. However, only 6 percent said they were using technology to enhance the customer experience. Lisa Schlosser, deputy administrator of e-government and IT at the Office of Management and Budget, called for feds to embrace "not an automation mentality, [but] a digital mentality" and revolutionize their thinking. continued…
first published week of: 02/08/2016
Arizona's Department of Administration will soon start using Facebook as its main platform for internal communications, according to news reports.
Facebook at Work, a work-friendly version of the Facebook most of us know, will let department employees work together across departments in real time. It will replace email as the main form of communication because, according to state CIO Morgan Reed, email “has become too antiquated to keep up with demand of government communication,” KTAR News reported.
According to Reed, the Department of Administration receives nearly 20,000 emails daily, and by moving internal conversations to the Facebook at Work collaboration platform, the department can respond more quickly to its customers, KTAR said.
The Facebook platform will also serve as a global address book, the article states, and it will also allow for more multimedia content sharing among departments -- as well as with the public, which can request content via public information requests. continued…
first published week of: 07/25/2016
The city's first CDO will bring his machine learning experience to bear on the city's most capricious and recalcitrant struggles
Boston’s first chief data officer will be Andrew Therriault, an announcement Mayor Martin Walsh made May 25.
Most recently, Therriault served as director of data science for the Democratic National Committee. He also has previous experience and training in machine learning and network analysis, skills he said he will bring to his role within Boston’s Citywide Analytics Team, reporting to CIO Jascha Franklin-Hodge.
"The Citywide Analytics Team is an invaluable asset, helping to keep Boston at the forefront of data-driven solutions that provide excellent services to the people of Boston," Walsh said.
Boston’s data efforts are many and include CityScore, executive data dashboards to monitor city performance, a hazard information platform for firefighters called Building Intelligence System, and a data-sharing agreement with Waze to improve traffic flow in the city. continued…
first published week of: 06/06/2016
Though the California Electronic Communication Privacy Act may slow law enforcement processes that had not previously been outlined, privacy advocates say it is restoring the balance in protecting citizens' digital information.
When the clock struck midnight Dec. 31 and rolled over into 2016, a new law mandating how law enforcement agencies could collect electronic communications and data took effect in California.
Under the new rule, formally known as the California Electronic Communication Privacy Act (CalECPA), law enforcement agencies in the state are responsible for obtaining search warrants before they go after forms of digital communication and information stored on devices like cellphones.
For civil rights advocates, the new law was a big win in a nationwide movement to halt the haphazard use of controversial tools and tactics. For law enforcement, the law means changes in how they employ certain technologies, like bulk data collection tools.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who also serves as the president of the California Peace Officers’ Association (CPOA), said the law won’t have a devastating impact on how agencies throughout the state operate, but it will slow processes that had not previously been outlined. continued…
first published week of: 01/18/2016
California utility regulators narrowly passed new rules that will increase costs for owners of rooftop solar systems, part of a broad reshaping of the state's energy future.
The California Public Utilities Commission, on a three-two vote, stopped short Thursday of the even higher charges that the state's investor-owned utilities wanted.
The opposing commissioners said they voted against the proposal because of the last-minute elimination of an electricity transmission fee, a move that they they said made the overall arrangement too rich for the solar industry.
The decision, which initially applies only to new solar panel systems, was viewed as a broad compromise to some. But others say it's a defeat for the utilities.
Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric had pressed the commission to charge solar owners hefty fees that the solar industry said would crush its business. continued…
first published week of: 02/01/2016
Officials announce plans for a next-gen open data portal for agencies and departments.
California is hatching plans to pilot a next-gen open data portal to house all of its public agency data under one roof.
The announcement came Friday, Feb. 12 from Stuart Drown, the deputy secretary for innovation and accountability from the recently formed California Government Operations Agency (CalGovOps). Drown said the initiative began in 2015 when CalGovOps experimented with the idea by launching a portal that included 11 data sets from three different departments. Following the launch was a state sustainability hackathon called GreenGov that aimed to get feedback, Drown said, adding that a prototype for the state’s portal can be found at Greengov.data.ca.gov.
“What we’ve done is put together a pilot that is part of a portfolio of projects that the agency has to improve and modernize business practices statewide,” Drown said. “It’s open data to push, ultimately, a culture of data-based decision-making.”
He elaborated by saying that this follows open data’s typical ambitions to produce more efficiencies in government services and improve quality of life for citizens. continued…
first published week of: 02/29/2016
Canada, is internationally recognized as the birth place of the modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS) thanks to Roger Tomlinson, a visionary geographer, who initiated, planned and directed the development of the Canada Geographic Information System and has been acknowledged world wide as the “Father of GIS”.
Roger F. Tomlinson, OC (17 November 1933 – 9 February 2014) was an English geographer and the primary originator of modern computerized geographic information systems (GIS). Dr. Tomlinson was a native of Cambridge (England) and prior to attending university, he served in the Royal Air Force from 1951–1954 as a pilot and flying officer.
After his military service, Dr. Tomlinson attended the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) and Acadia University (Nova Scotia) for two separate undergraduate degrees in geography and geology, respectively. He received a Masters degree in geography from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) where he specialised in the glacial geomorphology of Labrador. His Doctoral thesis at University College London was titled: ‘The application of electronic computing methods and techniques to the storage, compilation, and assessment of mapped data.’ continued…
first published week of: 07/11/2016
A longstanding and unfulfilled congressional demand for memos about the use of GPS tracking devices in federal investigations triggered a tense exchange Thursday that saw key House lawmakers from both parties bearing down hard on a top Justice Department official.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) slammed Justice Department legislative affairs chief Peter Kadzik, after he refused to commit to sharing the documents and directives on use of geolocation techniques.
"Why is it that members of Congress with security clearances ... why is it that I cannot actually see what you're sending out far and wide?" Chaffetz asked. "You're sending this out to all of your prosecutors ... When you send this out far and wide, why can't Elijah Cummings and I go look at it?"
Kadzik insisted the memos had not been sent out "far and wide" and that the records amounted to attorney-work product that should be kept confidential. "It goes to those prosecutors who need that information when they litigate cases and they approve or disapprove particular investigative techniques ... We have provided briefings," the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs said.
"No. No. No. No. No. A briefing's not good enough. A briefing's not good enough," Chaffetz shot back. continued…
first published week of: 01/25/2016
Federal lawmakers need to take action to ensure that IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) is deployed in public-safety answering points (PSAPs) throughout the nation to avert a “crisis” in public safety that would result from first-responder agencies continuing to rely on outdated technology, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Congress yesterday.
“Public safety, as embodied by 911, is dangerously close to a crisis as the digital world passes it by—21st Century life saving is being blocked by 20th Century technology,” Wheeler said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on FCC oversight, which was webcast. “We at the FCC have done all within our power to move the next-generation-911 capabilities of digital ahead ...
“We just completed a year-long process where we brought experts from around the country to spend a year developing a plan for what it [takes] to get to next-generation 911. We’ve submitted that task-force plan to this committee. Congress holds the key to whether there will be a next-generation 911, and we look forward to working with you to achieve that goal.” continued…
first published week of: 03/07/2016