In the wake of recent coverage of the “Magistrates Revolt,” BNA has published an article in which my colleague Will Drake and I argue that judges can exercise appropriate oversight of search warrants for digital evidence without imposing search protocols or requiring prosecutors to forego reliance on “plain view.”
Privacy Regulation
Video Interview: Discussing the IRS’s Rule on Bitcoin with LXBN TV
LXBN TV interviewed me about the recently announced IRS rules on Bitcoin and the future of the virtual currency. The interview can be found here:
Retain Locally, Comply Globally
We used to talk about the “borderless” environment of the Internet. These days, that view is looking increasingly outmoded and utopian, in large part because of the intersection of law enforcement and privacy concerns. Steady increases in regulation (and enforcement of existing regulation) in these areas is increasingly prompting two types of responses by global…
European Court Invalidates Data Retention Directive, Time to Rethink
Depending on the new Commission’s level of ambition when it takes office in the Autumn, this week’s European Court of Justice preliminary ruling (Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12), which found a 2006 Directive invalid, could prove an opportunity to re-think the EU approach to privacy and protecting personal data.
When we think about the EU and…
Is the New IRS Rule Good or Bad for Bitcoin?
Last week the IRS announced that Bitcoin would be treated as property, rather than currency, for tax purposes. That means the virtual currency will be subject to very real capital gains taxes when used to make purchases. So is this good or bad for Bitcoin? Well, that depends on whether you view the glass on…
The New Phone Metadata Program
According to the New York Times, the President has decided to kill the existing NSA phone metadata program and come up with a substitute that leaves the metadata with the phone companies. The decision will limit the government’s ability to find older connections, since few companies hold records for three or more years; it…
Debating Snowden
For some reason, debates about Snowden are thick on the ground these days, and I’ve joined a couple of them. The most fun was the Oxford Union, which has been preparing future Parliamentarians (and Prime Ministers) all around the British Commonwealth since 1823. The Oxford Union debate was “This House would call Edward Snowden a…
Making sense of Bitcoin
With all of the hype and hyperbole surrounding bitcoin and the dizzying array of press coverage, it can be hard for companies to know where to start in evaluating the potential risks involved in making bitcoin a part of their business. Law360 published an article this week in which I make sense of it all…
Republican National Committee draws fire for resolution condemning NSA
Almost immediately after the Republican National Committee adopted an error-filled resolution attacking the NSA and its telephone metadata program, current and former GOP officials took a strong stand against the RNC resolution:
[T]he RNC resolution threatens to do great damage to the security of the nation. It would be foolhardy to end the…
The Shorter Matt Blaze: NSA Hacking Is OK, As Long As We Take Away Its Best Hacking Tools
Matt Blaze, a well-known public cryptographer and NSA critic, offered what seemed like a modest concession in the relentless campaign against NSA intelligence gathering:
The NSA’s tools are very sharp indeed, even in the presence of communications networks that are well hardened against eavesdropping. How can this be good news? It isn’t if you’re…