An Anti-Porn App Put Him in Jail and His Family Under Surveillance

[Nevilledog]

https://www.wired.com/story/anti-porn-covenant-eyes-bond-revoked/

ON A WEDNESDAY morning in May, Hannah got a call from her lawyer—there was a warrant out for her husband’s arrest. Her thoughts went straight to her kids. They were going to come home from school and their father would be gone. “It burned me,” Hannah says, her voice breaking. “He hasn’t done anything to get his bond revoked, and they couldn’t prove he had.”

Hannah’s husband is now awaiting trial in jail, in part because of an anti-pornography app called Covenant Eyes. The company explicitly says the app is not meant for use in criminal proceedings, but the probation department in Indiana’s Monroe County has been using it for the past month to surveil not only Hannah’s husband but also the devices of everyone in their family. To protect their privacy, WIRED is not disclosing their surname or the names of individual family members. Hannah agreed to use her nickname.

Prosecutors in Monroe County this spring charged Hannah’s husband with possession of child sexual abuse material—a serious crime that she says he did not commit and to which he pleaded not guilty. Given the nature of the charges, the court ordered that he not have access to any electronic devices as a condition of his pretrial release from jail. To ensure he complied with those terms, the probation department installed Covenant Eyes on Hannah’s phone, as well as those of her two children and her mother-in-law.

In near real time, probation officers are being fed screenshots of everything Hannah’s family views on their devices. From images of YouTube videos watched by her 14-year-old daughter to online underwear purchases made by her 80-year-old mother-in-law, the family’s entire digital life is scrutinized by county authorities. “I’m afraid to even communicate with our lawyer,” Hannah says. “If I mention anything about our case, I’m worried they are going to see it and use it against us.”

*snip*

[Tree-Hugger]

1. Sounds like...

....he put himself in jail by being a pervert and his family now suffers the consequences.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. Mmm...that's not what happened, but OK.

[Tree-Hugger]

8. He was not already in trouble?

He was possession of child porn. Actions have consequences and he brought his family down with him.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. All we know from the article is that he was charged with possession, and has not yet faced

trial, and so is presumed innocent -- or should be, anyway.

[obamanut2012]

6. Where does it state that?

[Princess Turandot]

7. According to the 3rd paragraph in the OP..

He had previously been arrested for possession of child pornography. He was out on bond whilst awaiting trial. The data collected by the monitoring program caused that bond to be revoked, thus 'putting him in jail'.

Prosecutors in Monroe County this spring charged Hannah’s husband with possession of child sexual abuse material—a serious crime that she says he did not commit and to which he pleaded not guilty. Given the nature of the charges, the court ordered that he not have access to any electronic devices as a condition of his pretrial release from jail. To ensure he complied with those terms, the probation department installed Covenant Eyes on Hannah’s phone, as well as those of her two children and her mother-in-law.

[Mosby]

2. How is it legal to spy on someone's family?

They aren't on parole or probation, and some are minors. And who TF knows what your network does in the background?

This is sick, big brother shit.

ETA:

Jonathan Manes, an attorney at the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office, says the surveillance Hannah’s family faces likely violates several of their constitutional rights. “This feels like an extraordinarily intrusive violation of the family’s First Amendment rights to be able to access the internet and communicate without being monitored,” he says. Manes adds that because the software effectively enables continuous and suspicionless searches of the devices of people who haven’t been charged with a crime, the family’s Fourth Amendment rights were potentially violated.

Lastly, Manes points out that by indiscriminately surveilling whatever the phone is displaying, the app could collect sensitive data that includes the family’s communications with their lawyers, as Hannah feared. “It’s interfering with his right to speak in confidence with his attorney,” he says of Hannah’s husband. “It’s impeding his ability to prepare a defense and exercise that Sixth Amendment right.”

[Sgent]

3. I'm having trouble with sympathy

pre-trial release for a CSAM case is fairly rare anyway, especially with kids at home. He could always insist on his right to a speedy trial or wait it out in the county jail.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. This is horrifying.

[Jokerman]

10. I expected to read that he was on probation after a conviction.

His case hasn't even come to trial and they are monitoring his whole family?

That's not right.