Re:FBI agrees to unlock iPhone for Arkansas prosecutor
by Retric on Thursday March 31, 2016 @05:17AM
(#11395914)
Parallel construction is not legal. It's goal is to disguise the origin of information, but just because you get away with breaking the law that does not mean what you did was legal.
Proving this is very hard though.
Re:FBI agrees to unlock iPhone for Arkansas prosecutor
by cperciva on Thursday March 31, 2016 @06:05AM
(#11396054)
parallel construction
You're probably thinking of "inevitable discovery", which says that illegally obtained information can be used anyway if the prosecution can show that they would have obtained it anyway. Parallel construction is something intelligence agencies do in order to hide how they obtained information in the first place (whether legal or otherwise).
Even in the case of illegally obtained evidence, there are techniques like parallel construction [1] that they can use to make their cases. They also have the so-called "clean hands" exception, which allows allows the government to introduce evidence into trial that was illegally obtained by a third party when the government did not play any role in obtaining that information [2].
The US legal system was designed to seem exceedingly fair on its surface, while allowing for unconscionable abuses by those skilled in maneuvering through its loopholes.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction
[2] http://jipel.law.nyu.edu/ledger-vol-1-no-2-2-coffman/