Snapshot · This Week in Tech (Audio)
Justice Kagan's majority opinion effectively establishes that individuals own the data they generate, potentially opening the door to lawsuits against companies profiting from personal data without consent.
Where this was said
At 10:50 · chapter starts 5:00
Leo walks through the landmark ruling: Justice Kagan's majority opinion found that sweeping geofence warrants — demanding data on everyone near a crime scene — constitute a Fourth Amendment search even when the target was moving through public space. The panel is pleasantly surprised that a 6-3 majority came down against the government. But Lisa Schmeiser stops everyone to flag the ruling's sleeper implication: for the first time, a Supreme Court decision explicitly ties an individual to the data they generate and argues they retain control over it [1] — Leo Laporte "The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that geofence warrants — police requests for everyone's location data near a crime scene — violate the Fourth A…" 05:00 . That, she argues, is a legal time bomb for every data broker and ad-tech company in existence [2] — Lisa Schmeiser "We now have something in a Supreme Court decision that explicitly connects an individual to the data that they generate and argues that the…" 10:45 . Owen adds personal context, describing how he carries a Faraday cage for his phone, while the panel connects the ruling to Flock cameras, Bluetooth snarfers, and the broader normalization of public surveillance.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that geofence warrants — police requests for everyone's location data near a crime scene — violate the Fourth Amendment. The ruling implicitly establishes that people own their own data, even when generated in public spaces, which could trigger a cascade of lawsuits against companies profiting from personal data.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that geofence warrants — sweeping requests for location data of everyone near a crime scene — violate the Fourth Amendment.
Buried inside the geofence warrant ruling is a radical idea: you own the data you generate. That's a legal first. If courts follow through on this logic, it could end the era of companies harvesting your personal data without consent or compensation.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
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