Barre-Montpelier Times Argus
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, has proposed banning police from buying access to user data from data brokers, including ones that “illegitimately obtained” their records.
“The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act” is sponsored by 20 members of the U.S. Senate.
The proposed act:
â« Requires the government to get a court order to compel data brokers to disclose data the same kind of court order needed to compel data from tech and phone companies.
â« Stops law enforcement and intelligence agencies buying data on people in the United States and about Americans abroad, if the data was obtained from a user’s account or device, or via deception, hacking, violations of a contract, privacy policy or terms of service.
FBI search vehicle
4th Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
New Legislation Prevents End-Run of Courts by Government Agencies Buying Americans’ Data; Reflects Supreme Court Rulings that Digital is Different; Reps. Nadler and Lofgren to Introduce House Companion
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators
Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., and 18 other senators, today introduced a bill to put a stop to shady data brokers buying and selling Americans’ Constitutional rights.
Expungement fairs provide resources for Michigan residents navigating new clean slate laws
Updated 4:21 PM;
Today 4:21 PM
Eloise Ledesma, right, received legal support at an expungement fair in Grand Rapids on Saturday, April 24, 2020. Kirsten Holz, the district court supervisor for the Kent County Office of the Defender, volunteered her time to assist people looking to navigate the expungement process. (Photo by Rose White | MLive)
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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – An expungement fair held in Grand Rapids Saturday brought Eloise Ledesma one step closer to getting a decades-old misdemeanor wiped from her record.
Ledesma, 47, was picking up her ex-husband and his brother at a bar in 1996 when a fight broke out. She said she wasn’t involved in the altercation, never leaving the car, but still received an assault conviction.
Massachusetts’ state government has long been one of the least transparent in the country.
Want to know how your representative voted in committee on a crucial climate change or police reform bill? Good luck with that. There’s no requirement the information be made public.
Curious about who testified before the committee before it took its top-secret vote? You’re going to have trouble with that one too.
And many of the documents that are readily accessible to the public in other states - e-mails, contracts, and memos at the heart of the people’s business - are off-limits here. Massachusetts has the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country where the governor’s office, the legislature, and the judiciary all claim they are exempt from public records law.