Can the Law Keep Up With Emerging Surveillance Technology?
Another interesting panel during day three of the conference included a discussion of how the newest innovations in surveillance technology for detecting potential threats such as bombs or concealed weapons may legally impact privacy and policy. Julie Raffish and Carlos De La Guerra, both deputy city attorneys in the Los Angeles City Attorneys Office, posed the question, Emerging Surveillance Technology: Can the Law Keep Up? Raffish began by setting forth the two major legal issues that come into play where surveillance technology is concerned: the first is admissibility of evidence, and the second is the constitutional constraints of the fourth amendment. The first question that always needs to be addressed where technology and the fourth amendment are concerned is whether or not using a given technology constitutes a search, Raffish explained. Throughout the past five decades, there has been a progression of case law that defines a search, ultimately concluding that using a given tec
