What Happens When the Surveillance State Becomes an Affordable Gadget?

Re:What Happens When the Surveillance State Becomes an Affor... by coldtea on Sunday March 13, 2016 @04:55PM (#11279293)

>You only need the warrant if you want to use the information you obtained in court. If you just want to figure out how to nail somebody... which is often the hardest part... you just quietly listen in and figure out what things you should be getting warrants for.

That still sounds illegal. "Fruit of a poisonous tree" and all that:

Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally. The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the "tree") of the evidence or evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained (the "fruit") from it is tainted as well.

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Re:What Happens When the Surveillance State Becomes an Affor... by darpa_escapee on Monday March 14, 2016 @02:58AM (#11281425)

Yes, and this has been side stepped around for decades.

You find another way of entering evidence that doesn't mention any illegal surveillance. Since you've been watching, you know where it is. Construct a situation in which it is found legally.

See the Snowden revelations and what the DEA has to say about how it does investigations.

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Re:What Happens When the Surveillance State Becomes an Affor... by mikeash on Sunday March 13, 2016 @05:33PM (#11279448)

Yes, but look up "parallel construction" for numerous examples of law enforcement doing this and working around the "poisonous tree" stuff.

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