alt.hn

7/20/2026 at 2:55:12 PM

The ACLU Is Arming Lawyers to Expose State Surveillance Secrets

 https://www.wired.com/story/the-aclu-is-arming-lawyers-to-expose-state-surveillance-secrets/

by Brajeshwar

7/20/2026 at 7:32:50 PM

Good. Donate to the ACLU here: https://action.aclu.org/give/now

I've been a card carrying members for years.

by wmeredith

7/21/2026 at 9:16:11 AM

Not from the US but the ACLU did a lot of good also for people outside the US. More recently it seemed to have lost its way with some focus on "modern" activism, and yes I do mean foul compromises regarding to freedom of speech mostly, but not exclusively. No idea how to explain that better. Glad it is back to business here. I hope this isn't another partisan move that will stop as soon as the players in the white house change again.

by raxxorraxor

7/20/2026 at 5:07:27 PM

Is the concern that the police will use these tools as a scaffolding and then use other evidence to build the case, then not mention the scaffolding? I’m not a lawyer but couldn’t a defense attorney just ask in cross examination about the evidence sources? If there is other independent evidence, that would have to stand on its own.

by olsondv

7/20/2026 at 5:21:40 PM

I'm not a lawyer either, but what you're referring to is called parallel construction, and it's not legal. Basically it comes down to 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable search. You can't use methods that violate the 4th Amendment to discover someone has done something wrong, then launch an investigation which uncovers evidence in the traditional sense. The whole process is poisoned because with the illegal means, they would have never had a reason to investigate. You can't just go fishing for criminals or else we are basically all considered guilty by default. The problem of course is that this does happen, and the prosecutors just lie, ommitting the source of the original evidence.

by gtowey

7/20/2026 at 7:12:42 PM

The problem is you also can't [easily] go fishing looking for parallel construction. Part of a parallel construction scheme is maintaining plausible deniability for the prosecution team and the trial witnesses.

Prosecutors sometimes lie. Normally they're just handed a case file with already laundered evidence, and it's not their responsibility to look behind the facially legitimate evidence.

by wahern

7/20/2026 at 5:37:11 PM

Alright, that makes sense. I’m following now. Not at all opposed to making these transparent and accessible to defense attorneys.

by olsondv

7/20/2026 at 6:01:37 PM

They are shooting people in the street

by downrightmike

7/20/2026 at 5:18:54 PM

That's covered in the article, along with a bunch of other things I had no idea about.

by apercu