26 | June | 2014 | Peter "Just Loves Flying"

Supreme Court Says Phones Can’t Be Searched Without a Warrant – NYTimes.com

June 26, 2014

Supreme Court Says Phones Can’t Be Searched Without a Warrant – NYTimes.com.

WASHINGTON — In a sweeping victory for privacy rights in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest.

While the decision will offer protection to the 12 million people arrested every year, many for minor crimes, its impact will most likely be much broader. The ruling almost certainly also applies to searches of tablet and laptop computers, and its reasoning may apply to searches of homes and businesses and of information held by third parties like phone companies.

“This is a bold opinion,” said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. “It is the first computer-search case, and it says we are in a new digital age. You can’t apply the old rules anymore.”…

Corruption: The Unrecognized Threat to International Security – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

June 26, 2014

Corruption: The Unrecognized Threat to International Security – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Systemic corruption has an unrecognized bearing on international security. Policymakers and private companies often pay insufficient attention to corruption when deciding what foreign and defense policies to pursue or where to invest. Greater understanding of the nature of acute corruption and its impact on global security would contribute to a better assessment of costs and benefits and therefore to improved policy and practice.

Security Implications of Severe Corruption

Acute corruption should be understood not as a failure or distortion of government but as a functioning system in which ruling networks use selected levers of power to capture specific revenue streams. This effort often overshadows activities connected with running a state.

Such systematic corruption evokes indignation in populations, making it a factor in social unrest and insurgency…