Resolution resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance. Violations

Surveillance includes communication, physical, and transactional

Slobogin 97 Christopher Slobogin, Professor of Law, Alumni Research Scholar and Associate Dean, University of Florida College of Law; Reporter, American Bar Association Task Force on Technology and Law Enforcement.

Harvard Journal of Law & Technology Summer, 1997 10 Harv. J. Law & Tec 383 SYMPOSIUM: CRIME AND TECHNOLOGY: ARTICLE: TECHNOLOGICALLY-ASSISTED PHYSICAL SURVEILLANCE: THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION'S TENTATIVE DRAFT STANDARDS lexis

In 1995, the American Bar Association began an effort to fill this void. In May of that year, the ABA's Criminal Justice Section established a Task Force on Technology and Law Enforcement. n5 Composed of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, privacy experts, national security experts, law professors, and representatives of federal and state law enforcement agencies, n6 the Task Force was initially directed to [*387] review the ABA's Electronic Surveillance Standards. n7 These standards, which cover wiretapping and bugging, have not been substantially revised since 1978. n8 However, the ABA also recognized the need to expand the scope of these standards to reflect the development of other "advanced investigative tools" -- tools that might require a rebalancing of "the need for aggressive law enforcement with privacy and freedom . . . considerations." n9

To carry out this objective, the Task Force divided law enforcement surveillance practices into three conceptual categories: communications surveillance, physical surveillance, and transactional surveillance. n10 The [*388] term communications surveillance encompasses the real-time n11 interception of oral, written, and electronic communications using electronic or other means. n12 Physical surveillance involves the real-time observation or detection of movements, activities, and conditions. Finally, transactional surveillance refers to efforts to access pre-existing records such as phone logs, electronic mail logs, credit card histories, other financial transaction data, and air, train, and bus travel bookings. n13