Perspective.

https://pogowasright.org/geofencing-high-tech-surveillance-and-the-future-of-the-fourth-amendment/

Geofencing, High Tech Surveillance and the Future of the Fourth Amendment

Jon L. Mills and Alexandra Williams write:

Several years ago, Zack McCoy became a criminal suspect simply for riding his bike. His crime? Using a fitness app that placed him near the scene of a burglary. While McCoy was eventually cleared, his story illustrates a troubling reality: emerging surveillance technologies pose unprecedented threats to our constitutional rights.

Emerging technologies like geofencing and artificial intelligence can be powerful tools for law enforcement in solving crimes. And society’s increasing reliance on and integration of technology into our lives enhances the ability of these technologies to gather data that can be used in investigations. But we should be wary of giving up our constitutional protections against government surveillance in favor of convenience.

Currently there are dueling circuit court opinions on geofencing and the constitutionality of this investigative tool. This conflict presents an opportunity to redefine two fundamental issues of Fourth Amendment doctrine: What is the role of the broad third-party doctrine in the modern age and are certain surveillance technologies so intrusive that they constitute an unreasonable search which creates a “permeating police presence” that is the equivalent of an unconstitutional general warrant?

Read more at Law.com.

Keeping up.

https://pogowasright.org/state-comprehensive-privacy-law-update-march-7-2025/

State Comprehensive Privacy Law Update – March 7, 2025

Wilmer Hale has published a State Comprehensive Privacy Law Update. You can read it online or download a .pdf file (11 pages).

Finding human hallucinations?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00648-5

AI tools are spotting errors in research papers: inside a growing movement

Late last year, media outlets worldwide warned that black plastic cooking utensils contained worrying levels of cancer-linked flame retardants. The risk was found to be overhyped – a mathematical error in the underlying research suggested a key chemical exceeded the safe limit when in fact it was ten times lower than the limit. Keen-eyed researchers quickly showed that an artificial intelligence (AI) model could have spotted the error in seconds.

The incident has spurred two projects that use AI to find mistakes in the scientific literature. The Black Spatula Project is an open-source AI tool that has so far analysed around 500 papers for errors. The group, which has around eight active developers and hundreds of volunteer advisers, hasn’t made the errors public yet; instead, it is approaching the affected authors directly, says Joaquin Gulloso, an independent AI researcher based in Cartagena, Colombia, who helps to coordinate the project. “Already, it’s catching many errors,” says Gulloso. “It’s a huge list. It’s just crazy.”

The other effort is called YesNoError and was inspired by the Black Spatula Project, says founder and AI entrepreneur Matt Schlicht. The initiative, funded by its own dedicated cryptocurrency, has set its sights even higher. “I thought, why don’t we go through, like, all of the papers?” says Schlicht. He says that their AI tool has analysed more than 37,000 papers in two months. Its website flags papers in which it has found flaws – many of which have yet to be verified by a human, although Schlicht says that YesNoError has a plan to eventually do so at scale.

Because social media is a perfect indicator of terrorist intent?

https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/06/uscis_social_media/

Uncle Sam mulls policing social media of all would-be citizens

The US government's Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is considering monitoring not just the social media posts of non-citizens coming into the country, but also all those already in America going through an immigration or citizenship process.

Back in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security, which runs USCIS, decided anyone looking to enter the US on a work visa or similar had to hand over their social media handles to the authorities so that they could be looked over for wrongdoing and subversion.

In fact, this goes back to 2014, at least, to one degree or another, and has been standard procedure for years for foreigners, particularly those coming in on a visa.

(Related)

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/06/state-department-ai-revoke-foreign-student-visas-hamas

Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas"

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an AI-fueled "Catch and Revoke" effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups, senior State Department officials tell Axios.

Tools & Techniques. (How paranoid is enough?)

https://www.bespacific.com/meet-rayhunter-a-new-open-source-tool-from-eff-to-detect-cellular-spying/

Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying

EFF: “At EFF we spend a lot of time thinking about Street Level Surveillance technologies—the technologies used by police and other authorities to spy on you while you are going about your everyday life—such as automated license plate readers, facial recognition, surveillance camera networks, and cell-site simulators (CSS).  Rayhunter is a new open source tool we’ve created that runs off an affordable mobile hotspot that we hope empowers everyone, regardless of technical skill, to help search out CSS around the world.  CSS (also known as Stingrays or IMSI catchers) are devices that masquerade as legitimate cell-phone towers, tricking phones within a certain radius into connecting to the device rather than a tower.  CSS operate by conducting a general search of all cell phones within the device’s radius. Law enforcement use CSS to pinpoint the location of phones often with greater accuracy than other techniques such as cell site location information (CSLI)  and without needing to involve the phone company at all. CSS can also log International Mobile Subscriber Identifiers (IMSI numbers) unique to each SIM card, or hardware serial numbers (IMEIs) of all of the mobile devices within a given area. Some CSS may have advanced features allowing law enforcement to intercept communications in some circumstances. What makes CSS especially interesting, as compared to other street level surveillance, is that so little is known about how commercial CSS work. We don’t fully know what capabilities they have or what exploits in the phone network they take advantage of to ensnare and spy on our phones, though we have some ideas…”

Oh relax, this is India. It couldn’t happen here.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/tax/your-email-and-social-media-account-can-be-accessed-by-income-tax-officer-starting-next-financial-year-in-these-cases/articleshow/118685184.cms

Your email and social media account can be accessed by income tax officers starting financial year 2026-27 in these cases

Starting April 1, 2026, the income tax department will have the authority to access social media, emails, and other digital spaces to curb tax evasion. This has been granted to them under the new income tax bill. This will also include search and seizure powers over your assets and documents, which have raised major privacy concerns. Experts warn of challenges to fundamental privacy rights without judicial oversight and procedural safeguards.

(Related)

https://www.theverge.com/policy/624945/trump-uscis-social-media-review-policy

The Trump administration wants to review all prospective citizens’ social media accounts

The Trump administration may soon demand the social media accounts of people applying for green cards, US citizenship, and asylum or refugee status. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — the federal agency that oversees legal migration, proposed the new policy in the Federal Register this week — calling this information “necessary for a rigorous vetting and screening” of all people applying for “immigration-related benefits.”

Interesting…

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/insurrection-act-president-trump-20201819.php

Is Trump preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act? Signs are pointing that way

A joint Department of Defense and Homeland Security report will soon recommend whether or not to invoke the Insurrection Act over illegal migration

The clock is ticking down on a crucial but little-noticed part of President Donald Trump’s first round of executive orders — the one tasking the secretaries of the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to submit a joint report, within 90 days, recommending “whether to invoke the Insurrection Act.” 

Many of us are now holding our collective breath, knowing that the report and what it contains could put us on the slippery slope toward unchecked presidential power under a man with an affinity for ironfisted dictators.

Tools & Techniques.

https://hbr.org/2025/03/how-to-build-your-own-ai-assistant?ab=HP-latest-text-1

How to Build Your Own AI Assistant

Gen AI can save you time, but once you’re using it frequently, the process of repeatedly uploading the same background files and re-entering prompts for common tasks can really eat into your efficiency gains. That’s why many generative AI platforms allow you to create custom AI assistants: what ChatGPT calls a “custom GPT,” Claude calls a “Project,” and Google Gemini calls a “Gem.” These assistants store elements of a prompt that you might want to use over and over so you don’t have to include them every time you ask the platform to help you with your recurring tasks and challenges.

… Once you have an idea of what you’d like an assistant to do for you, take these basic steps to get it up and running.

Perspective.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/gartners-top-trends-in-data-and-analytics-for-2025-include-ai-agents/

Gartner identifies top trends in data and analytics for 2025 - and AI takes the lead

Data is at the heart of most organizations, fueling everyday business functions. To help digital leaders better prepare their data and analytics (D&A) strategies, Gartner has identified the top D&A trends for 2025. 

"D&A is going from the domain of the few, to ubiquity. At the same time D&A leaders are under pressure not to do more with less, but to do a lot more with a lot more, and that can be even more challenging because the stakes are being raised," said Gareth Herschel, VP analyst at Gartner. "There are certain trends that will help D&A leaders meet the pressures, expectations and demands they are facing." 

The opposite of tariffs?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/trump-axes-ai-staff-and-research-funding-and-scientists-are-worried/

Trump axes AI staff and research funding, and scientists are worried

… On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the February layoffs at the National Science Foundation (NSF) of 170 people -- including several AI experts -- will inevitably throttle funding for AI research. Since 1950, the NSF has awarded grants that led to massive tech breakthroughs, including the algorithmic basis for Google and the building blocks for AI chatbots. The Foundation invests over $700 million annually in democratizing AI research and resources, with a focus on education, workforce development, and ethics.

The firings are expected to impact current research and budding AI talent in the US. 

Cause…

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/03/02/trump-to-establish-u-s-crypto-reserve

Donald Trump Names XRP, SOL, ADA, BTC and ETH as Part of U.S. Crypto Reserve

U.S. President Donald Trump named XRP, Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) as three assets to be included in a U.S. strategic crypto reserve on Sunday, providing the first details about what such a reserve may look like.

...Effect?

https://www.theblock.co/post/344105/trader-makes-7-million-in-one-day-going-50x-long-bitcoin-ether-ahead-of-trumps-crypto-reserve-announcement

Trader makes $7 million in one day going 50x long bitcoin, ether ahead of Trump's crypto reserve announcement

… The trader deposited about $5.6 million USDC to Hyperliquid, blockchain data show, using the funds to create large 50x leverage long positions on bitcoin and ether. The use of leverage brought his total position to a total value of over $200 million, drawing the attention of blockchain analysts.

Early Sunday morning, the price of ETH had fallen so that the trader's long position was in danger of liquidation — around 9:37 am, if ETH had fallen just $54 dollars more, the trader's long position would have been liquidated, resulting in a loss of over $2 million.

However, Trump's announcement of a crypto strategic reserve at 10 am Sunday morning sent prices soaring upward. Soon after, the trader, who had been adding to their long positions throughout the morning, closed their trades, netting $7 million in profits in just 24 hours, according to HypurrScan.

Give me AI or give me another employer?

https://www.bespacific.com/92-of-students-are-using-ai-what-this-means-for-lawyers/

92% of Students Are Using AI – What This Means For Lawyers

Artificial Lawyer – “A new survey of over 1,000 university students found that 92% had used AI tools in their studies. Their reasons for using genAI both mirrors lawyers – and tells us what the future looks like for the legal sector. Why does this show us what’s coming? For the simple reason that the students of today are the lawyers and clients of tomorrow. If they have become – it would appear – very comfortable with using AI tools for ‘knowledge work’, (and what is study but knowledge work) – then this will have a downstream impact as these young people enter the workforce. It also suggests that law firms may face staff retention issues, or perhaps even initial hiring barriers, if they are not incorporating AI into their work flows. This was seen in a recent LexisNexis survey, which found that ‘failure to embrace AI’ could lead to 11% considering leaving, which rose to 19% at larger law firms, while 36% at larger law firms believed a lack of AI tools may harm their career progression.  See AL article here.”

Perspective. Why can’t government understand?

https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/opinion_e2ee/

Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors

With Apple pulling the plug on at-rest end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for UK users, and Signal threatening to pull out of Sweden if that government demands E2EE backdoors, it's looking bleak.

There's no answer to the objection that you can't protect deliberate flaws in encryption from themselves being abused. The strength of E2EE is the underlying mathematical proof that can no more be overturned by law than pi can be made exactly 3. The implementation has to be deliberately crippled.

This has its own practical problems. Most obviously, if you are a criminal relying on encryption to hide your misdeeds, you will choose to use a non-crippled option. The UK government thought about this and made the whole process of demanding access "secret," which would work only if everyone involved, including those outside UK jurisdiction, felt honor-bound not to leak it. Even then, secrecy wouldn't last if features mysteriously changed in the software. Assuming nobody noticed, then the first court case that relied on evidence from a supposedly secure source would fall apart on examination. It turns out that if you can't back secrecy with solid math, it won't stay secret.

Conversely, if you know what you're doing, then you can evade snoopery. You can simply use software that doesn't rely on the compromised services, you can run encryption software locally before uploading to the cloud, or you can arrange your own private services that don't have a corporate entity attached who can be forced to capitulate. If you control the software that implements the math and the data flow on your system, you're golden. Criminals know this, tech types know this, it's just the vast majority of innocent users who don't.

The end of the scarcity economy?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/how-ai-reasoning-models-will-change-companies-and-the-economy?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc0MDgyMzM2OSwiZXhwIjoxNzQxNDI4MTY5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTU0U5RzdEV1JHRzAwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIwNEFGQkMxQkYyMTA0NUVEODg3MzQxQkQwQzIyNzRBMCJ9.W7e-AXL46nByVbRlbx3r2DauYuTOWFKebu3bGSDuk4U&leadSource=uverify%20wall

AI Will Upend a Basic Assumption About How Companies Are Organized

… As intelligence becomes cheaper and faster, the basic assumption underpinning our institutions — that human insight is scarce and expensive — no longer holds. When you can effectively consult a dozen experts anytime you like, it changes how companies organize, how we innovate and how each of us approaches learning and decision-making. The question facing individuals and organizations alike is: What will you do when intelligence itself is suddenly ubiquitous and practically free?

Perspective.

https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol35/iss2/2/

AI in the Courtroom: The Boundaries of RoboLawyers and RoboJudges

… This article aims to contribute to the literature in several ways. First, it provides an overview of AI uses within legal systems, among lawyers, and within courts. Second, it addresses the primary challenges and concerns recognized in legal literature concerning the use of AI systems: safety and accuracy, transparency, accountability, nondiscrimination, and privacy. It also explores potential methods to mitigate these concerns to some degree. Subsequently, it examines the regulatory initiatives already implemented to govern the use of AI and mitigate associated risks. Finally, it concludes that despite precautions and safeguards, there are boundaries that should not be crossed and certain uses of AI which should be rejected outright, such as replacing litigators and judges in courts.

Things to come?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5158692

THE BLACK BOX PRESIDENCY

In February 2025, as wildfires ravaged Los Angeles, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold FEMA assistance unless California adopted voter ID laws and water deregulation policies-just one example of how executive power could weaponize administrative authority for political gain. Simultaneously, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) deployed artificial intelligence systems across multiple agencies to evaluate federal workers' job justifications, with the stated goal of replacing "the human workforce with machines." This article explores how these converging developments-the politicization of administrative functions and the algorithmic replacement of civil servants-foreshadow a constitutional crisis through the Strategic AI Governance Engine (SAGE), a hypothetical yet plausible system that would automate statutory interpretation and policy implementation across federal agencies. While no unified system like SAGE currently exists, the Biden administration disclosed over 2,000 siloed AI applications across the federal government, from regulatory enforcement targeting to benefits eligibility determinations. These existing deployments, combined with DOGE's aggressive workforce reduction-over 40,000 federal employees have already accepted resignation offers-create the foundation for algorithmic governance at unprecedented scale. When paired with the Supreme Court's dismantling of Chevron deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2023) and its embrace of unitary executive theory in Seila Law LLC v. CFPB (2020), these developments create the perfect constitutional storm: a presidency empowered to centralize administrative authority through algorithmic systems that operate at "machine speed," beyond meaningful congressional oversight or judicial review. The constitutional implications are profound. SAGE's reinforcement learning algorithms could optimize for presidential

Perspective.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kampala-International-University-Vi/publication/389166977_The_Impact_of_Artificial_Intelligence_on_Legal_Communication/links/67b735bd207c0c20fa8ec449/The-Impact-of-Artificial-Intelligence-on-Legal-Communication.pdf

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Legal Communication

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping the legal field, particularly in the way legal professionals communicate. This paper investigates how AI technologies, such as machine learning, natural language processing, and automated tools, are transforming legal communication. From drafting and reviewing legal documents to enhancing lawyer-client interactions, AI promises to improve efficiency and accuracy. However, challenges such as ethical concerns, job displacement, and data privacy issues persist. This paper examines AI’s role in streamlining routine tasks, its potential for improving legal communication, and the associated risks. Additionally, it considers the future implications of AI in legal practice and communication, highlighting the need for ethical standards and training in AI use within the legal profession