The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/science-technology/)
A pending bill in the Massachusetts legislature to put a moratorium on facial recognition and other remote biometric surveillance systems is the latest example of growing efforts in cities and states to rethink the technology that has begun to transform policing.
DNA identification has been celebrated for its ability to exonerate the wrongfully convicted, but what if it’s also used by law enforcement to place you under suspicion for a crime you didn’t commit? A Stanford Law School researcher sketches out the dystopian implications of commercial geneology services.
So far the tech giant Apple has swatted away lawsuits linked to fatalities caused by texting drivers. But as U.S. distracted driving-related deaths climbed past 3,000 in 2017, experts say it may take just one judge to change the story.
Thirteen cities serve as case studies in a new report that assesses where predictive-policing data come from and how they might be corrupted by unconstitutional and racist practices of the past.
GPS tracking of St. Louis patrol vehicles has grown unreliable thanks to old computers that will cost nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to replace.
As law enforcement and government agencies increasingly turn to sophisticated drone technology, they face a backlash from privacy advocates that could severely limit their use unless governments develop clear guidelines, warns an article in the Hastings Colllege Law Journal.
The government’s 2017 decision to shut down the National Commission on Forensic Science has slowed the movement to reform how courts treat forensic evidence, according to a UCLA Law study.
The official shutdown of the Justice Department’s Science Advisory Board was announced in a terse message to members this month. One member says it’s a step backwards from an ambitious attempt to apply scientific and evidence-based thinking to the federal justice structure.