5/15 http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/fbi_acknowledge.html
"The FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is increasingly seeking
reporters phone records in leak investigations."
\_ No seeking needed anymore, just a quick NSA database query ...
Does anyone honestly not believe the final destination for all these
programs is a police state the PTB in communist East Germany could
be proud of?
\_ National security letters were only supposed to be used for
terror suspects and spies. The FBI does not need to consult a
judge to obtain an NSL. With the Patriot Act, NSLs may be issued
for anyone, not just terror suspects and spies. With the Patriot
Act, NSLs may be issued by FBI field offices, not just FBI senior
officials.
What can be obtained from an NSL? Issued primarily to
businesses (like phone companies, ISPs, and e-commerce sites)
and government entities (like libraries), the entity is
compelled to provide phone records, financial data, Internet
access history, etc., although wiretaps are not included.
The entity is also forbidden from disclosing the fact that you
have been probed.
So, if there were an investigation into the leak on CIA secret
prisons in Europe, an FBI field office could issue an NSL to
SBC to provide phone records on who the NY Times and Washington
Post reporters have been talking to. There is no explicit
restriction on what the data can be used for, once obtained.
In late 2003, the Bush administration reversed a long-standing
policy requiring agents to destroy their files on innocent
U.S. citizens once an investigation closed, permitting entry into
a permanent database.
\_ My point was that with the new NSA domestic "keep track of
every call ever made" spying database, the extra step of
going to the phone company is no longer necessary. -pp
\_ I'm not disagreeing with you, just adding info. fyi,
the total-information-awareness phone record dumps were
not via NSL or FISA -- it was just the NSA asking
"nicely".
\_ Yes they are all different mechanism, but there is
no denying that everything is moving towards more
surveillance and less court oversight. |
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