Not only did the FBI fly surveillance aircraft over the city of Baltimore during the protests following the police killing of Freddie Gray, the ACLU revealed Friday that it used advanced technology like infrared and night-vision cameras to do so.
What’s more, new internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the agency is holding on to surveillance video it recorded from the sky.
According to flight logs, evidence logs, and internal memos, the FBI helped local law enforcement watch protests between April 29 and May 3 by making 10 flights over the area, comprising a total of 36.2 hours.
In a blog post on Friday, ACLU staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler acknowledged that “in its Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, the FBI takes the position that no Fourth Amendment protections apply to ‘aerial surveillance conducted from navigable airspace’.”
However, Wessler argued, “While that is an accurate statement of Supreme Court precedent when it comes to visual observation and use of normal cameras from a plane, it fails to grapple with the effect of advances in surveillance technology.”
“Use of infrared and night-vision camera technology changes the equation by raising the potential for invasions of privacy,” he continued. “The capabilities of the surveillance gear matter. If the infrared camera is capable of observing information about the inside of private homes and offices, for example, the Supreme Court has already explained that the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement applies.”
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