The manager of a billion-dollar hedge fund, the billionaire head of a buyout firm, and the ex-wives of a television actor and a major real estate developer all will be crucial witnesses at the racketeering trial beginning next week for Anthony Pellicano, the infamous Hollywood private eye.The four will testify that they paid Mr. Pellicano…
Category Archives: Privacy
FBI Abused Its Authority
Here’s a big surprise. The FBI is given the ability to obtain private information about US citizens without a warranr or judicial oversight through the use of so called “national security letters,” and abuses the privliege and violates the law. The whole notion of federal law enforcement becomes mopre and more noxious by the day.
Technology + Law Enforcement = Privacy Risk
Police officers, whether plain-clothed or uniformed, carry a variety of equipment with them on service calls. Police in uniform carry much more equipment than those in plain clothes, and members of special operations teams, such as SWAT and crowd-control units, carry even more, sometimes including full body armour complete with helmet, leg pads, and shield, but one…
Why the 9th Circuit’s BALCO Decision Is a Threat to Privacy Rights
Jacob Sullum, of Reason Magazine, has posted this very insightful op-ed explaining why the 9th Circuit’s recent decision allowing the government to rifle through reams of electronic files in the pursuit of, presumably, Barry Bonds, is a bad omen for privacy rights. Hat tip: Tom Kirkendall, of the always thought provoking Houston’s Clear Thinkers
He Knows If You’ve Been Bad or Good
There is a very interesting story up on ABC’s website ( I assume the story ran on 20/20, but I did not see it) about the random street murder of a woman in Philadelphia (my home town) in May 2005. The story recounts the efforts of Phialdelphia police to track the killer using variously placed…