Two surveillance planes were flown over Baltimore last weekend, and the ACLU isn't happy about it.
The Washington Post reports that the planes used infrared technology to track movement, and they were aided by the FBI, according to anonymous officials. Now, the ACLU is demanding information about the flights' legal authority, since the technology often adds "the movements of people under no suspicion of criminal activity into a government dragnet," according to the Post.
"A lot of these technologies sweep very, very broadly, and, at a minimum, the public should have a right to know what's going on," Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU, told the Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Officials told the Post that the ACLU will file information requests about the planes with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the FAA on Wednesday. The FBI has not commented on the flights.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.