The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/science-technology/)
The tweet, spread by thousands online and retweeted by a member of President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign advisory board, shows the breakneck speed at which misinformation can spread, and illustrates an eagerness to use such events for partisan purposes.
The newly created Duke Center for Science and Justice intends to focus on legal and scientific research in its efforts to reform the criminal justice system.
FamilyTreeDNA, one of a growing number of firms popular with Americans seeking to discover their roots, shared information on its database with the FBI that provided possible leads to the so-called Golden State Killer. The FBI says “investigative genealogy is for lead purposes only” but critics say it may infringe on privacy.
Amazon’s home surveillance company, Ring, is making headlines after documents sent to an Illinois police department telling officers what “should not be shared with the public” were leaked.
A three-year-old, $8 million crime data analysis center will get $4 million more to expand as Detroit officials and activists wrestle over how all the pieces fit together in the city’s surveillance programs.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI agents have been using photos from state driver’s license databases for facial recognition without people’s consent or knowledge, according to the Washington Post.
A Washington State jury’s guilty verdict against a suspect in the 1987 murder of a young Canadian couple represented the first successful conviction in a case involving the use of genetic genealogy. Critics worry the practice will endanger Americans’ privacy.
Prosecutors are using data surveillance technology in novel ways to go after criminals. But in the process they may be undermining constitutional guarantees of due process, warns a new study.
Members of Congress are intensifying calls for a temporary ban on the federal government’s use of facial recognition technology after the disclosure that the FBI has amassed a database of more than 640 million photographs, “There are only 330 million people in the country,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said at a committee hearing.
Want to avoid the hassle of going to court over a misdemeanor? In California’s prosperous Orange County, all you need to do is allow authorities to keep your DNA on file—forever.