House amendment would require warrants for web history searches

A new House deal has the potential to prevent the nightmare scenario in which Feds might not need a warrant to see what sites you’ve visited, videos you’ve watched and searches you’ve made. Earlier this month, we learned that the Senate was preparing...

Yes, the Patriot Act amendment to track us online is real

Just being able to calmly purchase toilet paper feels like reason enough to celebrate these days. But one thing a lot of people won’t be cracking champagne over this month is the renewal of the Patriot Act/USA Freedom Act — and its terrible inclusion...

Court says data swept up by the NSA is protected by the Fourth Amendment

An appeals court may have just shaped how the US treats the NSA's bulk data collection. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that American communications scooped up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's Section 702 and PRISM is...

The NSA says it stopped tracking cellphone locations without a warrant

Last year the Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that a search warrant is required for law enforcement to perform cellphone tower searches to track someone's location. The Daily Beast reported on a letter sent by the Office of the Director of Na...

Maria Butina: Cybersecurity charlatan, spy

Russian spy Maria Butina's cover story was her academic interest and expertise in cybersecurity. As cover stories go, this unfortunately wasn't a hard one to pull off. Except anyone holding even the barest minimum of cybersecurity knowledge could've...