If you’re like most people who carry a smart phone, you have a lot of data accessible on there. You might bank from your phone, email, schedule your day, not to mention keep in contact with everyone you know, Tweet, and update your Facebook status. In other words, your phone is not just a source of calls—it’s a virtual computer. And it’s this wealth of information that helped the Florida Supreme Court determine that police can’t search through your phone randomly, at least not unless they can get a warrant. [Read more…]
Florida Drone Legislation Creeps Forward
Miami-Dade was the first police department to be granted an FAA permit for drone flying in 2011. Since then another 81 such permits have been granted. Yet, the Miami-Dade Police Department has yet to use their drones. Now, the future of their unmanned eyes-in-the-sky is looking even bleaker as lawmakers slowly work through limiting their applications. [Read more…]
Florida Cops Misusing Citizen’s Private Information
Patrol officers have laptops in their vehicles these days. And they aren’t using them to play solitaire or update Facebook (at least not that we know of). But in addition to using them for “official business”, it turns out many are accessing citizen’s private information with no justifiable cause. [Read more…]
Florida Faces Lawsuit Over Red Light Cameras
A Florida attorney has filed suit against the state and the city of West Palm Beach alleging the new red light cameras are unconstitutional, both at the state and federal level. According to the Sun Sentinel, he states that the cameras and the procedures used in regards to them flip the tenet of “innocent until proven guilty” to “guilty until proven innocent”. [Read more…]