Years of unlawful phone record searches by FBI
From The Washington Post:
“FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said in an interview Monday that the FBI technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act when agents invoked nonexistent emergencies to collect records.”
“FBI officials told The Post that their own review has found that about half of the 4,400 toll records collected in emergency situations or with after-the-fact approvals were done in technical violation of the law.”
“Among those whose phone records were searched improperly were journalists for The Washington Post and the New York Times, according to interviews with government officials.”
So that would constitute criminality no?
Read the full article: “FBI broke law for years in phone record searches” -WaPo
meet the new boss
When the Bush administration asterisked the bill of rights with claims of executive privilege and state secrets they woke many a citizen to the frailty of our system. The so-called city on a hill was ready to sacrifice its constitution for the safety offered up by an unchecked executive branch.
Yes our concept of checks and balances, co-equal branches of government, and the rule of law were nice ideas, but when faced with the hard reality of guys with box cutters it was those in the choir of American exceptionalism (ironically many of the same voices who use American ideals as justification for all sorts of expansionist policies) who were among the first to advocate sacrificing liberty for a little security.
Now it appears the Obama administration is ready to pick up where these self-styled pragmatists left off. If you haven’t been tracking these issues read on and weigh in:
Wiretapping, FISA, and privacy: Obama vs. Courts, Obama Channels Cheney
Extraordinary rendition: Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool.
Obama on Surveillance of Citizens: Obama Goes to Bat for Secrecy.
Telecom Immunity: Obama Administration Supports Telco Spy Immunity , Obama loses state secrets argument setting up possible judicial showdown
Verizon snoops Obama
Verizon has once again demonstrated that they cannot be entrusted with their customer’s private data. It was revealed today that multiple Verizon employees have accessed President-elect Obama’s cell phone records without authorization. The employees have apparently been put on paid leave until further notice.
According to telecom analyst Michael King of Gartner, the snoops could likely see the numbers Obama had called, how long his conversations lasted and when he made his calls.
The incident is reminiscent of a time earlier this year when State Department employees were caught snooping in Obama’s passport records as well as those of fellow presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
Obama is no doubt only one of many citizen’s having their privacy violated by cellular companies like Verizon. In fact a 2006 lawsuit filed against Verizon alleges the existence of a third party data center being operated out of Quantico Virginia — home to a Marines base as well as the center of FBI surveillance operations– where eavesdroppers could access “all content and all information concerning the origin and termination of telephone calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network as well as the actual content of calls.” For more on this bit head over to Wired or the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
big brothers without borders
CBS News recently spoke with Mr. Joel Brenner, who they described as “the nation’s top cyber-security official” about the security risks facing U.S. travelers planning on attending the Beijing Olympics.
The travel advisory was blunt: “All information you send electronically-by fax machine, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer or telephone-can be intercepted.” It was of course non-news.
Then came an exchange between Mr. Brenner and reporter Bob Orr that must have come as a surprise to at least a few viewers:
Brenner: “The public security services in China can turn your telephone on and activate its microphone when you think it’s off.”
Orr: If the phone’s in my pocket, and it’s off, you’re saying an outside force, an outside agent can turn it on?
Brenner: Yeah
Orr: And listen to what I’m doing?
Brenner: That is what I’m saying.
Orr: And my Blackberry?
Brenner: Same thing.
Well, there you have it. The head of U.S. cyber-security is a card carrying member of the tin-foil hat brigade. I mean really. Even if it were possible for some shadowy (Chinese) government agency to turn my phone on after I had PUSHED–AND HELD– THE OFF BUTTON… what would I have to worry about? I’ve done nothing wrong, and therefore have nothing to hide. Isn’t that the way the argument goes?
Anyways, maybe it’s Mr. Brenner who’s got something to hide… or maybe he’s got something or other he just doesn’t want us thinking too much about.
Sure glad the ol’ US of A would never sell my sovereign rights down the river like those sneaky Chinese.
Oh and in case you were wondering how to foil the Leviathan that is the (Chinese) surveillance state: remove your cellphone batteries. Sorry iphoners, any attempt to pull your battery makes your warranty null and void.
UPDATE: For reasons unknown, the video which was hosted on the CBS website appears to have been taken down. I’ve updated my link to point to the same video, now hosted by cnet.com.
who loves yoo?
Mr. Yoo’s 2001 legal opinion was revealed last week thanks to a 2003 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the ACLU. The full memo, to which this is literally a footnote, is 81 pages in length and provides information on the detention and interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas. This footnote references a separate and still secret memo entitled “Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States.” Read more about this little gem over at TPM and the Washington Post.
Interestingly, John Yoo is now teaching law at UC Berkeley. If one were interested in contacting the Dean, any of the Associate Deans, or Mr. Yoo’s colleagues for any reason, their email addresses are listed here.
[UPDATE] April 10, 2008: Today’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing featured an interesting exchange between Mukasey and Senator Feinstein regarding this very memo. The Attorney General had obvious dificulty answering a very pointed yes or no question: “Is the October 2001 OLC opinion still considered binding by the Department of Justice?”
[UPDATE] April 11, 2008: From The National Lawyer’s Guild “John Yoo should be disbarred and he should not be retained as a professor of law at one of the country’s premier law schools. John Yoo should be dismissed from Boalt Hall and tried as a war criminal.”
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