[freshair]

Until high ranking government officials start getting very length prison sentences for this sort of shit, I doubt it will ever get better.

[giantg2]

Why would they get a prison sentence for legally buying information that the private sector can also buy?

[Nasrudith]

You can hire a PI legally. A police chief hiring a PI to bypass warrant restrictions would rightfully be in deep shit for it.

[giantg2]

You seem to be implying that the PI has additional powers. It's quite the opposite. Any search that a PI can legally do can also be done by legally by the police. Police have access to government sources of data that PIs do not, can collaborate with other departments, and can detain people (under the right circumstances).

The chief might get in trouble, but usually that has to do with policies against using external resources or for budget constraints.

[topkai22]

Also with the legal precedent from the Supreme Court that telecom metadata IS not protected by the 4th amendment? It is NOT clear from the article that what is doing is legally unconstitutional, as much as I might personally disagree with the Judicial branch's current view.

[kwere]

they will get senteces due data collected so to not get caugth they will ride privacy bandwagon