[wordup] aparantly we do still have a right to privacy. crazy ...

[Adam Shand]

... who'd a thunk?  i love all the kooks in portland, and hope to earn my
place amoung them in time. :)

adam.

From: politech at politechbot.com
URL: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44444,00.html
Opinion: http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-8508.ZS.html

Can't Scan Without a Warrant
By Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)
2:00 a.m. June 12, 2001 PDT

WASHINGTON -- If the feds want to spy on your home using whizzy tech
gadgets, they'd better get a warrant first, the Supreme Court said on
Monday.

In an important 5-4 ruling that extends privacy's shield to radiation not
visible to the human eye, the court said federal agents should have
obtained a warrant before using an infrared imaging device to snoop on
Danny Lee Kyllo, an Oregon man they later arrested for growing marijuana.

The decision, written by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, said even
though the law has long allowed police to peer at homes through their
naked eyes, enhanced cameras and similar devices in law enforcement hands
"would leave the homeowner at the mercy of advancing technology --
including imaging technology that could discern all human activity in the
home."

This ruling seems likely to affect how federal and state police may use
their rapidly-growing arsenal of advanced surveillance tools. In the Kyllo
case, agents used an Agema 210 unit to detect unusual heat emissions from
the halide lamps used to grow marijuana.

Since the Interior Department's unlawful surveillance of Kyllo in January
1992, infrared and other forms of electronic monitoring devices have
become far more invasive, and the Justice Department has spent millions of
dollars in research on X-ray devices that can see through even brick and
concrete walls.

"Certainly optical performance has improved. And over the years thermal
sensitivity has grown a lot greater," said Doug Little, spokesman for FLIR
Systems of Portland, Oregon, which bought Agema in 1998. "Cameras are a
lot more accurate now."

[...]




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