Buza Reloaded: The Fourth Amendment Framework

This is the second installment of remarks on Buza II , the opinion of the California court of appeal that invalidates the state's DNA-on...

Buza Reloaded: Court Shifts Ground But Again Invalidates California’s DNA-on-arrest Law

Buza I For the reasons we have set forth, we conclude that the DNA Act ... unreasonably intrudes on such arrestees' expectation of pri...

Another Disgusting DNA Case: Please Flush!

A quick update to the disgusting DNA report of last March ( The Whooper Stopper ). Following up on a report from KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, th...

The Supreme Sound of Silence: Same-Sex Marriage and DNA Databases

The big news among Supreme Court watchers is the big dog that did not bark in the night — the Court’s denial of petitions for certiorari in ...

Online Course Requirements and Information

Students considering entering the field of computer forensics or enhancing their professional training can make use of these free online cou...

Bayes in Our Times

Today's New York Times has an article on "a once obscure field known as Bayesian statistics." 1 / It is an informative piece...

Hazard Ratios and Heart Failure

Today’s big news in medicine is a new drug, designated LCZ696 by its manufacturer, Novartis. According to the New York Times , LCZ696 “has s...

Recommending Reading - A new resource for those looking to learn

I am often asked about which books should be read related to topics in computer security and forensics. Sometimes these questions come from ...

Interview with Eric Huber on A Fistful of Dongles

I was recently interviewed by Eric Huber on his popular AFOD blog. I went into some details of my path to where I currently am in my digital...

The FBI's Worst Hair Days

An article by Spencer Hsu in yesterday's Washington Post suggests that the FBI lost a tug of war within the Justice Department. In 201...

A Long Shot Pays Off in Long Island

A family member shouted “we love you” as police took John Bittrolff back to jail. A court in Long Island had just ordered him held without b...

Looking Backwards: How Safe Are Fingerprint Identifications?

Yesterday , I explained why the frequency with which factors like confessions are found in cases of wrongful convictions does not measure th...

Looking Backwards: How Prevalent Are False Confessions?

Studies of false convictions are tremendously important. They can rebut complacent assumptions that such things never happen, and they can s...

Up in Smoke: 5 Million Neonatal Blood Samples Incinerated

Originally posted: Double Helix Law Blog , Mar. 15, 2010 An effort to avoid the pointless destruction of the millions of Guthrie cards maint...

A Texas Tall Tale of “DNA Deception”

Originally posted: Double Helix Law Blog , Mar. 4, 2010 A “non-profit, nonpartisan public media organization,” the Texas Tribune broke a re...

Stopping a Defendant from Using a DNA Database Trawl to Blame Someone Else in Diggs v. State

A violent burglary and robbery of two unsavory characters in their apartment near Rockville, Maryland, led to felony charges against two men...