Category Archives: Fifth Amendment

Enlarge / John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, debuts a customized Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid in January 2017.

Bill Pugliano / Getty Images News

"What Ive told you is that you can submit the privilege log to me, in camera, without giving it to anyone else and I can evaluate it, which aspects, if any would be incriminating," US District Judge William Alsup said, addressing a lawyer representing the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, during the hearing."Im not ruling against theultimate assertion of the privilege, but youve got to do more than just say in court, Fifth Amendmentyou have to do a privilege log and go through the process."

The case pits Waymo against Uber, which in turn is in a tense situation with one of its own employees, Levandowski, the head of its self-driving division.

Levandowski is now set to be deposed by Waymo lawyers this Friday at their San Francisco offices. He must also respond to a subpoena by handing over materials that he is accused of stealingthousands of secret documents from his time with Waymoparent company Google. On Wednesday, Judge Alsup quashed four of the six distinct items requested in the subpoenabut allowed the most substantive, the allegedly "misappropriated materials," to stand. (The third item, "All communications between You and Uber between January 2015 and August 2016," will also remain.)

Earlier this year, Waymo sued Uber for alleged patent infringementWaymo claimed that Levandowski, a former Waymo and Google employee, stole 14,000 confidential documents prior to his departure.Armed with that data, Waymo further alleged, Levandowski founded a company called Otto in early 2016, which was then acquired by Uber for $680 million only months later. Waymo argued that this cache of materials allowed Uber to rapidly and seriously compete with Waymo in self-driving technology. Late last month, Waymo lawyers asked the judge to impose an injunction that would compel Uber to stop using any of the allegedly stolen data.

In late March 2017, Levandowski invoked his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incriminationdespite the fact that he neither has been charged with a crime, nor is he a named defendant in the civil suit. So far, the engineer has refused to hand over any documents or data related to the lawsuit. In addition, Uber seems unable to compel Levandowski, who still remains employed at Uber, to give up the information.

"As an employer you cannot force an employee to turn over personal property," Arturo Gonzlez, one of Ubers attorneys, told Ars in a phone interview after the Wednesday hearing. However, he noted, Uber would be "very pleased" if Levandowski would hand over any relevant data that he may have.

During that late March court hearing, when Uber indicated it would not pursue any data that Levandowski held privately, Waymo tried a different tactic. It served Levandowski'sattorneys with a subpoena, commanding Levandowski to produce substantial amounts of materials and to appear for a deposition on Friday, April 14. Levandowski'sown lawyer, Ismail Ramsey, told Waymo's lawyers in a letter on Monday that Levandowski "plans to assert his Fifth Amendment rights with respect to any documents requests served on him."

Waymo's attorneys, for their part, countered in a Tuesday letter to the judge: "Again, the only reason a subpoena was even required to be served in the first place is because Uber and Mr. Levandowski have attempted to construct an artificial distinction between themselves in an effort to delay their obligations to produce responsive information."

As Ars reported earlier this month, Uber's lawyers initially resisted producing a privilege log of their own. Uber's loga list of which documents shouldn't be disclosed to Waymo as part of civil discoveryishundreds of pages long, much of it e-mail from Uber's systems about the $680 million acquisition of Levandowski's startup, Otto. Levandowski is concerned about 42 documents that relate to a due diligence report about the Otto acquisition. His lawyers won't even say who the report's author is.

Four days after that April 6 hearing, on April 10, Judge Alsupdenied Levandowskis lawyers attempt tohalt Uber from giving up its privilege log.

"At risk of repetition, the very purpose of a privilege log is to allow a fair way to test a claim of privilege," Judge Alsup wrote. "That traditional privilege log requirements should be verboten merely because they might connect the dots back to a non-party in a possible criminal investigation is a sweeping proposition under which all manner of mischief could be concealed."

Levandowskis lawyers immediately appealed Alsups April 10 ruling on Tuesday to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles all patentappeals.

"I dont believe that you need until Wednesday at noon," the judge said.

On Wednesday, the judge also ordered that by April 25, Uber must produce a description of any and all LIDAR-related work performed by Levandowski, who still currently oversees Ubers self-driving car program.

"You are ignoring all of the other work and you never mentioned what Mr. Levandowski was doing," Judge Alsup told Uber lawyers during the Wednesday hearing. "What was he working on? It does leavethe impression that you have cleverly written around the problem of what Levandowski was working on even if it didnt turn into a prototype. Thats a fair question, and they are entitled to an answer."

Judge Alsup also noted that if Levandowski was going to continue to invoke his constitutional rights during the Friday deposition, the engineer couldnt do it in one fell swoop."It has to be invoked question by questionitll be a long day but you have to go through the process," he said, addressing Waymo attorneys.

Both sides will reconvene before Judge Alsup on May 3 to discuss Waymos motion for a preliminary injunction, which could put the brakes on Ubers self-driving work.

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Uber engineer accused of data theft must tell judge why he's ... - Ars Technica

The presiding judge in Alphabets lawsuit against Uber for allegedly stealing autonomous-car trade secrets has said that Uber must disclose certain basic details of a due diligence report conducted as part of Ubers August 2016 acquisition of self-driving tech startup Otto.

The report could play an important role in Alphabets allegations that the ride-hail company is using Alphabets proprietary self-driving technology.

The Google parent company claims that Ubers self-driving head, Anthony Levandowski, stole 14,000 files from Alphabet that included designs for its lidar Light Detection and Ranging technology. Lidar is key to most self-driving systems.

Uber counters that its technology is unique and distinct from that used in Alphabets self-driving efforts, which exist under the umbrella of an Alphabet subsidiary, Waymo.

A due diligence report is conducted by a third party as part of an acquisition. It looks at finances, legal issues and other details of a company that is being acquired.

Alphabet has claimed that the due diligence report will prove that Levandowski who worked on self-driving technology for Alphabet before leaving and co-founding self-driving trucking company Otto stole the files. Theres a question of whether the report included a review of any of the allegedly stolen documents. And if Alphabet knew who compiled the report, the company could subpoena them.

Last week, Levandowski filed a motion requesting that details of the due diligence report including the identity of the party that conducted the report not be disclosed in Alphabets suit.

Levandowski is not named as a party in the lawsuit, and is retaining his own attorneys, who filed the motion on his behalf. Uber did not sign on to the motion.

Judge William Alsup ordered that the report be included in the privilege log a list of documents that a party in a lawsuit argues should not be opened up to the court because they contain privileged information that Uber must compile. The judge is not at this time requiring that the report be opened up to the court, but is ordering it to be included in that list without basic details redacted.

There will be time enough to argue soon over whether the due diligence report itself must be produced, Alsups order said. But for now that report must be put on a privilege log in the conventional way without any of the redactions requested by counsel for Levandowski.

Levandowskis attorneys argued that revealing details of the report would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because the document details might furnish a link in a chain of possible incrimination.

At risk of repetition, the very purpose of a privilege log is to allow a fair way to test a claim of privilege, Alsups order said. That traditional privilege log requirements should be verboten merely because they might connect the dots back to a non-party in a possible criminal investigation is a sweeping proposition under which all manner of mischief could be concealed.

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The judge in the Alphabet/Uber lawsuit rejects a Fifth Amendment ... - Recode

Investopedia

Samsung's Galaxy 8 Could Endanger Fifth Amendment Rights ... Investopedia Fifth Amendment rights, which protect citizens from incriminating themselves in court cases, may be in danger thanks to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd's (SSNLF) ... Experts: Fifth amendment questions raised by Samsung Galaxy's face recognitionPlanet Biometrics all 2 news articles »

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Samsung's Galaxy 8 Could Endanger Fifth Amendment Rights ... - Investopedia

Last week, Samsung announced that its Galaxy S8 phone would let you unlock it by scanning your face a method that could be quicker and simpler than entering a passcode or even using a thumbprint. As we noted at the time, this isnt a strong security measure; in fact, someone already fooled it with a photograph. But theres another, less-obvious issue: one key Constitutional protection for passwords usually doesnt apply to biometric security measures like face scanning.

The Fifth Amendment, which protects people from having to incriminate themselves, holds that passwords or passcodes are testimonial evidence. In other words, you can refuse to give up your PIN because doing so would mean answering a question based on the contents of your thoughts, not providing a physical piece of evidence. But as early as 2013 the year Apple announced its Touch ID sensor security experts were warning that fingerprints wouldnt fall under this rule. So far, this theory has held up. A Virginia judge let police use a fingerprint to unlock a phone in 2014, and similar requests were granted by other courts in 2016 and 2017.

Standing there while a law enforcement officer holds a phone up to your face or your eye is not a testimonial act.

The self-incrimination analysis for biometric and face scanning would be the same as for Touch ID, says Jeffrey Welty, a law and government professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. Standing there while a law enforcement officer holds a phone up to your face or your eye is not a testimonial act, because it doesnt require the suspect to provide any information that is inside his or her mind.

Most people using Samsungs (or another companys) face-scanning system will never be charged with a crime. And this doesnt prevent things like searching visa applicants phones, where people are complying in order to get into the country, not because of direct law enforcement action. But the Fifth Amendment still provides a general legal layer of protection against smartphone searches, which can reveal a huge amount of personal information.

This isnt a totally cut-and-dried issue, however. In certain cases, courts can still require you to unlock a device with a passcode. If the police already know whats on the device and that the person in question is the owner, the foregone conclusion doctrine may apply, says Welty. Thats what happened last month when an appeals court ruled that a man needed to decrypt two hard drives believed to hold child pornography, because the contents werent in question.

Conversely, biometric security could still be testimonial under certain circumstances, and legal expert Oren Kerr has laid out an argument for protecting fingerprints under the Fifth Amendment. In his hypothetical example, police have a phone with a biometric sensor and seven possible owners, none of whom will claim it. Putting a finger to the sensor might not be testimony, but identifying yourself as the owner of the phone could be, and so could revealing which finger (or other body part) would unlock it. One subject of a phone-unlocking order made the latter argument last year, but in that specific case, it was shot down.

Even so, both these situations are edge cases. Bottom line, if you are concerned about whether law enforcement can compel access to your device, a password or passcode is much better than Touch ID or facial recognition, but it isnt ironclad, says Welty. Of course, if youre absolutely determined to keep your data private, you might want to just delete it.

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PSA: Samsung's new face scanner won't give you the legal protection of a passcode - The Verge

The iris scanner and facial recognition features of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus arent protected under the Fifth Amendment, industry experts are reminding consumers just weeks before Samsungs upcoming pair of Android flagships officially hits the market. The Fifth Amendment that protects against self-incrimination by allowing people the right not to testify against themselves in acase when doing so would criminally implicate them has previously extended to both passwords and passcodes, as providing either was defined as giving testimonial evidence, i.e. evidence that consists of ones thoughts. This protection technically doesnt apply to any kind of physical evidence like fingerprints, as several previous cases have already shown, but it also doesnt extend to devices that can be unlocked with an iris scanner or facial recognition.

Both iris scanning and facial recognition rely on certain physical features that courts can and do categorize as physical evidence, meaning e.g. you cannot refuse to unlock your smartphone by pleading the fifth if a police officer can simply hold the phone up to your face and let it unlock. While some privacy advocates previously argued such search isnt legal, a precedent on the matter has yet to be made and courts seemingly agree that a scenario in which an officer holds a phone up to someones face isnt defined as a testimonial act as it doesnt require the suspect to share any contents of their thoughts.

There are certain exceptions to the rule outlined above, legal experts explain, noting how most exceptions pertain to scenarios in which authorities arent certain who owns the device theyre looking to unlock with an iris scanner or facial recognition. While looking at your phone to unlock it in front of officers isnt a testimonial act, claiming ownership of a device certainly is, meaning youre not required to do so if authorities arent certain who owns the smartphone theyre seeking to unlock. Overall, if youre planning to acquire the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, or any other upcoming smartphone boasting biometric authentication, keep in mind you might want to stick with a regular password, pattern, or a passcode if youre adamant to not let authorities access your device under any conditions.

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Galaxy S8 Face Recognition Isn't Protected By 5th Amendment - Android Headlines

By Laurie Chapman

April 3, 2017

Like the First Amendment, there is substantial information packed into the Fifth Amendment. In this section, our founding fathers have addressed issues such as double jeopardy, due process and eminent domain. It also provides citizens the right to remain silent, or not implicate themselves.

The following is a transcription of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution in its original form.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The first part of this amendment addresses the right of a citizen charged with a capital crime to be presented before a grand jury. Typically, most states satisfy this requirement through preliminary hearings. The one exception, outlined in this amendment, is specific circumstances relating to the military.

The Fifth Amendment also precludes citizens from being subject to double jeopardy. No individual may be tried for the same crime twice. Additionally, a citizen cannot be compelled to implicate themselves in the court of law. This is commonly referred to as pleading the fifth, where a defendant or witness invokes the right to remain silent.

In Miranda vs Arizona, 1966, the court expanded on the right to remain silent as presented in the Fifth. The court held that all individuals must be advised of their right to remain silent and to an attorney. If an individual is in police custody and being interrogated, failure to advise the individual of their rights makes their statements inadmissible in court.

Also relating to the court of law, the Fifth guarantees a fair, orderly and just trial. As with the wording for double jeopardy, the Fifth Amendment only applies to the federal government. However, the text of the 14th Amendment applies both issues to states as well.

Finally, the Fifth Amendment addresses eminent domain. This states the federal government may not take personal property for public use without just compensation. In Chicago, B. & Q. Railroad Co. vs. Chicago, 1897, the court held the 14th Amendment also extended in this arena to the states.

Determining just compensation typically entails assessing the propertys fair market value. The piece of this section that has been troublesome relates to the intended use of the property.

A controversial opinion was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed private property to be seized for private commercial development. Justice John Paul Stevens issued the 5-4 decision in Kelo vs. City of New London, 2005.

The courts opinion stated:

The takings at issue here would be executed pursuant to a carefully considered development plan, which was not adopted to benefit a particular class of identifiable individuals, Rather, it has embraced the broader and more natural interpretation of public use as public purpose. In a nutshell, the court agreed that allowing the city to take ownership of a condemned property with the intention of economically revitalizing it would benefit the public. While the space might be directly privatized, the public as a whole benefits from an approved, productive space. Idaho certainly has its share of public lands, and I wouldnt be surprised to see this amendment raised in future suits relating to land usage.

Laurie Chapman publishes Political Broad bi-monthly and takes an informative, opinionated peek at the functions of government. If you have a suggestion for the author, e-mail her atlchapman@idahocountyfreepress.com or call her at 208-983-1200.

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Fifth Amendment preserves our right to due process, and more - Idaho County Free Press (blog)

An executive at Uber accused of stealing technology for driverless cars from Google his former employer is invoking his Fifth Amendment right to avoid incrimination, said his lawyers.

Attorney representing Anthony Levandowski, the ex-head of the self-driving car unit at Google, who is leading an effort similar to that at Uber at this time, said he broadly asserted his Fifth Amendment rights due to a potential for criminal action from the case.

The maneuver made by Levandowski adds additional intrigue to this fight between a pair of technology industry giants, which have squared off in a race to put self-driving vehicles on the road.

Levandowski is the centerpiece of a lawsuit between Waymo and Google. Waymo was spun off from Google and is a standalone subsidiary of Alphabet.

The company has accused Levandowski of poaching employees and stealing documents prior to quitting at Google and following that colluding with Uber in using the technology to help the ride-hailing service advance its efforts at driverless cars.

Just after he left Google, Levandowski begin his own start-up for self-driving trucks called Otto. Only six months after the business was formed, Uber bought the company for a price of $680 million.

A motion was filed by Waymo seeking an injunction earlier in March to stop the development of autonomous vehicles at Uber.

As part of its motion to seek injunction Waymo said Levandowski, while still employed by Google installed special software allowing him to download more than 14,000 files equal to 9.7 gigabytes of information that pertained to their program for driverless cars.

Uber has been ordered to hand those files over.

A private hearing transcript held before a judge in San Francisco shows that lawyers from Levandowski said he was using his Fifth Amendment rights in not turning the documents over that might pertain to this case.

A lawyer for Uber said the made it clear to Levandowski that he must release documents that are relevant to this case as part of discovery.

One of the attorneys representing Levandowski said the executive at Uber asserted his Fifth Amendment right to protect him against any compelled disclosure which would identify existence, location or the possession of any documents.

He added that Levandowskis decision to use his Fifth Amendment right might change as they look further into the case. This situation raises a number of questions about Levandowskis future at Uber, as a Judge told Uber that it had a right to order Levandowski to cooperate or they could fire him.

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The Executive With Uber Invokes Fifth Amendment - Petro Global ... - Petro Global News 24

File this under things that are too strange to be fiction. Nobody could make this stuff up! Anthony Levandowski used to work for Waymo, the self driving division of Alphabet, which most of us know as Google. In early 2016, he left Waymo and started his own business called Otto that specialized in creating self driving systems for large trucks. Last year, Uber bought Otto for $500 million. (One presumes that Otto is a play on the word auto, no doubt suggested by a certain famous scene in the movie Airplane!)

It took Waymo 7 years to develop its self driving car technology. Uber is now testing self driving technology that it developed in 7 months. Prior to leaving Waymo, Levandowski downloaded over 14,000proprietary and confidential files from the Waymo server, including the design for a Lidar circuit board. Waymo knew nothing about any of this until a supplier working with Otto accidentally included Waymo in an e-mail.

Once alerted, Waymo filed suit asking for an injunction against Uber using any of the information it obtained from Levandowski via its acquisition of Otto. The complaint alleges,Fair competition spurs new technical innovation, but what has happened here is not fair competition. Instead, Otto and Uber have taken Waymos intellectual property so that they could avoid incurring the risk, time, and expense of independently developing their own technology.

These are very serious allegations, if true, said Tyler Ochoa, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. The trade secret case by itself is a blockbuster. Its hard to believe theyd put those accusations into print unless they had evidence, Ochoatold Bloomberg.

This week, Levandowskis attorney, Miles Ehrlich, informedU.S. District Court Judge William Alsup that his client intends to exercise his right against self incrimination based on the potential for criminal action if called to testify in Waymos case against Uber. Attorneys for Uber told the court that Levandowski has a good story to tell and that if he testifies, his testimony would make it clear that Uber is not taking advantage of any of the information he downloaded from Waymo on the way out the door.

That would be a legitimate point, said the judge. Maybe you can convince me of that. But first, Levandowski has to agree to testify.Im sorry that Mr. Levandowski has got his got himself in a fix. Thats what happens, I guess, when you download 14,000 documents and take them, if he did. But I dont hear anybody denying that, Alsup said.

Then the judge warned Ubers attorney,If you think for a moment that Im going to stay my hand because your guy is taking the Fifth Amendment and not issue a preliminary injunction to shut down that youre wrong, according to a report by Autoblog.The court is considering a temporary restraining order against Uber and has set May 3 as the date when it will hear arguments for a permanent injunction.

Obviously, Waymos allegations are not evidence. But the timing of Levandowskis departure from Waymo and Ubers success with its autonomous driving cars is, as they say, curious. It will be interesting to see if Ubers Nothing to see here. Move along strategy convinces the judge not to issue a temporary restraining order.

Tags: Anthony Levandowski, Otto self driving trucks, Uber autonomous car testing, Waymo suit against Uber

Steve Hanley I have been a car nut since the days when Rob Walker and Henry N. Manney, III graced the pages of Road & Track. Today, I use my trusty Miata for TSD rallies and occasional track days at Lime Rock and Watkins Glen. If it moves on wheels, I'm interested in it. Please follow me on Google + and Twitter.

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Morning Agenda: Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment New York Times Anthony Levandowski, the head of Uber's self-driving unit who is accused of stealing technology from his former employer Google, is citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to his lawyers. Why? Because there is potential ... Uber exec invokes the Fifth Amendment in Google patent squabbleBGR Uber's Anthony Levandowski invokes Fifth Amendment rights in Waymo suitTechCrunch Uber exec asserts Fifth Amendment rights in Waymo lawsuitLeftLane News The Tech Portal -Ars Technica -Forbes -New York Times all 95 news articles »

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Morning Agenda: Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment - New York Times

Funding for Donald Trumps Mexico border wall will be front and center in next months budget debate, but there could be a broader constitution barrier staying in the way of the projects long-term completion.

There has been more media and academic discussion in the past few weeks about the feasibility of the U.S. government acquiring the land needed to build a wall, of any size, that extends over 1,300 additional miles between the United States and Mexico, not including land that doesnt already have walls or natural barriers.

Overall, the Trump wall project would stretch about 2,000 miles, including existing fences and barrier built in past years. According to a GAO report from 2015, about one-third of that land belongs to the federal government and tribal authorities. The other two-thirds of that land, mostly in Texas, belongs to state and private owners.

The Fifth Amendments Takings Clause would allow the federal government to claim the land for public use, provided it pays a fair price for the land as just compensation. Few experts dispute the Trump administrations ability to buy the land. However, the eminent domain process can be a long, expensive process for even the smallest pieces of land.

The often-cited example in this case is the legal battle involving Eloisa Tamez. About eight years ago, the Bush administration started a program to build more than 600 miles of fencing on the California, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona borders, and it wanted one acre of Tamezs land in Texas. She went to court and after seven years of litigation, Tamez received $56,000 for a quarter-acre of land along with a security code for the fence.

Randal John Meyer from the Cato Institute wrote about these potential issues back in 2016 when Trump became the apparent Republican nominee, riding a wave of publicity about the wall.

The Great Wall of Trump would mean hundreds, if not thousands, of Tamezes, Meyer said. Citing GAO records, Meyer said it took about a decade to settle all the eminent domain lawsuits involved in the Bush-era fence plan, with about 500 homeowners affected in the plan to put barriers on 700 miles of land - and the federal government owned much of the land used in that project.

The Trump administration wall project is the opposite, Meyer said, since it involves at least 1,000 miles of land that will host a much-bigger wall, and most of that land, especially in Texas, isnt owned by the federal government.

A more recent article by University of Pittsburgh Law School law professor Gerald S. Dickinson gets into specifics about the current wall project. In trying to take land for the wall, the federal government would be held to time-consuming procedures that include consultation and negotiation with the affected parties including private landowners, tribes, and state and local governments before taking any action, Dickinson said.

And then theres the issue of taking property from Native American nations. The members of the Tohono Oodham Nation own 62 miles of border land in Texas, but they also have cultural roots in Mexico. The Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government must take tribal interests into account in these situations. Trump would need a bill from Congress to acquire the tribal lands, which are protected by treaties and other statutory equivalents, Dickinson said.

The end results could be a series of court fights that extend beyond the term of any Trump administration. Any federal eminent domain action on such a large scale against evena few landowners could triggerdecades of court disputesbefore anything is built, Dickinson concluded.

President Trumps proposed budget includes expenses for 20 attorneys to litigate eminent domain problems related to the wall. The lawyers are needed to pursue federal efforts to obtain land and holdings necessary to secure the Southwest border.

Alan Ackerman, an eminent-domain lawyer in Michigan, told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration could use a legal tactic by filing large groups of cases. Federal judges have appointed commissioners to oversee disputes over land compensation for very large projects, Ackerman told the Journal.

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

Filed Under: Immigration

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Would the Fifth Amendment stop Trump's Mexico wall? - Constitution Daily (blog)