Posted on 01/19/2015 8:58:11 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
* At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies now have access to radar devices that enable them to effectively see into people's homes
* The technology has been available for more than two years, but only come to light during a federal appeals court hearing in Denver last month
* The use of the technology adds to growing concerns about government surveillance and also raises legal and privacy issues
At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies now have access to radar devices that enable them to effectively see into people’s homes and determine if anyone is inside.
Although the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and others have had the technology for more than two years, it only come to light during a federal appeals court hearing in Denver last month.
During the case it emerged that officers had used the Range-R device before they entered a house to arrest a man wanted for violating his parole.
The judges in the case expressed alarm that agents had used the technology without a search warrant in line with the U.S. Supreme Court's advice.
‘The government's warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions,’ said the judges....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I would think this would be handled the same way as when police used FLIR technology to identify pot growers, the cases were thrown out because without the FLIR the police could not tell, so they had no valid evidence for a warrant.
Tin foil alert!
Ping!
Another write-up on the subject from USA Today (with comments): http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/19/police-radar-see-through-walls/22007615/
Perhaps, but that only matters if they are using the technology to try to build a criminal case.
What if they decide to simply use it for domestic surveillance, to collect intelligence without a goal of using it for prosecution? That is the idea that worries me.
I actually have an idea for a sci-fi story, which I am just a bit lazy about getting around to writing, set in a not-so-distant future. This technology, and other similar advances in surveillance and data collection are combined with advanced drones that can keep whole areas under surveillance 24/7, ostensibly under the pretense of “homeland security” and preventing domestic terrorism.
The authorities in this America do not care about stopping crime with the information they gather, because crime is simply another social problem for them to manage, and nothing pressing as far as their agenda is concerned. Instead, they use their “Eyes in the Sky” to glean data on every person, track them, and build a profile to predict which have the potential to be dangerous dissidents. Then, these people can be secretly and silently scooped up just as they begin any effort at resistance, since the authorities have all the information to anticipate all but the most spontaneous outbursts.
At that point, there is no need for warrants, or trials, because the citizen who is apprehended will already have given them all the cause they need to “disappear” them into the shadow court and prison system run by the intelligence agencies under National Security legislation. Anyone who catches on to what is going on will also likely be intimidated by the knowledge into doing nothing to resist themselves, and those who run the system are kept in line with the same type of surveillance, as well as special privileges offered as incentives for loyalty.
My working title is “Panopticon”, which is a design for a prison system where the inmates on a block are kept in line by a single guard, who can see everything that happens in the structure from a central vantage point. He cannot watch everything at once, but the fear created by not knowing whether you are being watched or not creates greater compliance than greater manpower and more “hands on” methods produce.
Article and #5.
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What does the Supreme Court’s advice matter? The agents had evidently not complied with the 4th Amendment before using the device.
Speaking of tin foil, is there a reasonable countermeasure to the technology?
I’m hoping tin foil works.
Why do you think they took the lead out of paint?
Looking for baby cribs in which to throw their flash bang grenades?
A few years ago when the start up company I was with was folding up, I interviewed with an outfit developing an ultra-wideband radar that supposedly could detect human presence through walls.
They were trying to sell it to investors as a "baby monitor" sort of thing to make sure you kid's heart was pumping normally, etc etc.
No idea if it ever got off the ground. UWB radar for surveillance through walls has been around for a while.
If I stand in front of my picture window flipping them the bird will they be able to make that out?
During the case it emerged that officers had used the Range-R device before they entered a house to arrest a man wanted for violating his parole.
The judges in the case expressed alarm that agents had used the technology without a search warrant in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s advice.
...
In this particular case, I would think the arrest warrant would be good enough if there was one. If not they had a legal reason to arrest him, anyway. In other cases I would think that the SCOTUS decisions involving infrared would apply.
You could try a dog. The device is hand held so using it requires
placement against the wall or structure. A Dog inside would hear an
approach, most of the time. Dogs are funny that way.
Here's a link to the unit.
http://www.range-r.com/documents/RANGER.PDF
It’s called FLIR and has been available for a decade from companies like Fluke.
We use them to determine pathing when installing structured cable into buildings where they don’t have reliable floor and building plans
Cops have used them for at least as long as we have.
I have a friend who bought a FLIR for his IPhone and it only cost him $300 bucks.
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