Matt Zapotosky reports: Maryland’s top law enforcement officials are pushing back against a recent Court of Appeals decision that prohibits DNA collection from suspects charged — but not yet convicted — of violent crimes, saying the ruling will allow dangerous criminals to go undetected by authorities. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and police chiefs and prosecutors from the…
Month: April 2012
UK: Nottingham textile firm taking a stand against council camera car
Good one, but do they really have any legal leg to stand on? The council says they don’t: A Nottingham business is refusing to let the city council’s camera car onto its premises to check it is obeying the conditions of the workplace parking levy. The council has spent £93,000 on a car that will…
Ie: Record level of data complaints
Elaine Edwards reports: Members of the public made a record number of complaints to the Data Protection Commissioner’s office last year. Commissioner Billy Hawkes’s annual report for 2011 reveals the 1,161 complaints related to issues such as unsolicited marketing by text message and email and unlawful use of CCTV to monitor employees. Prosecutions were taken…
Commentary: Maybe we really do need surveillance – “for the children”
I’m probably one of the last people you’d ever expect to raise the “it’s for the children” argument for surveillance in schools, right? But there’s a story out of New Jersey that’s all too familiar to me in my “irl” identity and work: disabled students are abused in school and because of their disabilities, cannot…