WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2007
FBI Cast A Wide Net For Phone Records
New Information Shows FBI Data Mining Program More Expansive Than First Thought
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(CBS/AP)
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation used national security letters to request information on the wider "community of interest" linked to individuals under suspicion, according to the documents.
The data-mining technique can lay bare phone and e-mail links that tie together otherwise indiscernible networks of individuals. Law enforcement officials value that sort of data as a means of identifying a suspect's potential conspirators. Privacy advocates say it can ensnare people with no tie to illegal or suspicious activity.
The "community of interest" requests were included in more than 2,500 pages of FBI documents the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a watchdog group, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The New York Times first reported on the requests in a story posted to its Web site Saturday.
Marcia Hofmann, a lawyer for the group, told the Times, “This whole concept of tracking someone’s community of interest is not part of any established F.B.I. authority. It’s being defined by the F.B.I. And when it’s left up to the F.B.I. to decide what information is relevant to their investigations, they can vacuum up almost anything they want.”
The FBI letters use boilerplate language to request companies provide calling records for redacted lists of telephone numbers, citing "exigent circumstances." An Aug. 9, 2005, letter and others from that year also include the following: "Additionally, please provide a community of interest for the telephone numbers in the attached list."
Earlier this year, the Justice Department's inspector general uncovered 700 cases in which FBI agents obtained telephone records through such "exigent letters," which asserted that grand jury subpoenas had been requested for the data when in fact such subpoenas never had been sought. The FBI eliminated use of the letters earlier this year.
The FBI recently stopped asking for "community of interest" data, amid broader questions about the bureau's aggressive use of national security letters, government officials told The Times.
A federal judge struck down a key part of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism laws on Thursday, saying the FBI must justify to a court the need for secrecy if the orders to hand over phone and e-mail records will last longer than a reasonable and brief period of time.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 24 CommentsPosted by zootallures2 at 01:01 PM : Sep 09, 2007
Zooty! how many people use that name? I think you are a group of (students, activists, terrorist, or some government (whos?) agency posting misinformation or running tests on public perception or whatever. It is my perception that you are one of the liars in the world but someday I will find you out and thats no lie.
Don''t hope for any American''s arrest and torture because of data mining. Just show in court that data mining has led to false arrest and torture, then you''ll have a case.
BTW, the Consitutional guarantee is only a guarantee against "unreasonable" searches. Whenever Congress approves a surveillance program, the courts are likely to extend some (but not complete) consideration to the reasonableness of the legislation, since the House and Senate comprise our elected representatives and they''ve discussed the need for such programs before approving them.
Using their own surveillance equipment to track people.through image, video, debit card and credit card purchases.
Then compiling that information, and giving that information to : The FBI
The FBI has yet to explain : Why former CIA operatives are now - Carrying credentials Identifying themselves as FBI investigators.
Why is it that CIA operatives - Need to disguise themselves as FBI investigators ? ? ?
FBI Director : Mueller - will not give a Name for - This echelon of the FBI.
Bush- will not give a Name for - This echelon of the FBI.
Hitler - Had a name for - His own Federal Secret Police.
He called them : The Gestapo and The SS.
Every FBI - Employee should feel Profoundly -
Honored and Privileged - To be a part of this -
Secret Echelon of the FBI.
Every FBI - Employee should feel Particularly proud -
To be Identified with - And in the Direct Image of
The Nazi Gestapo and The Nazi SS
The Federal drug - Smuggling operations
The Federal drug - Manufacturing operations
The Federal drug - Money-laundering operations
Criminal wiretaps and Criminal surveillance techniques
The Child S*e*x Operations
The Intimidation and Blackmail operations
Every Child in America - Should Want to grow up -
To be - In the Direct Image of : The FBI Employee
Lastdance
Posted by secundus2 at 12:56 PM : Sep 09, 2007
I hope you get picked up by accident and taken to one of those secret CIA prison''s in Syria and tortured for a weeks. Maybe then you''d change your thinking about this issue. I''m sure they figure out you were innocent eventually after attaching electrodes to your testes!
Privacy advocates say that innocent people can be ensnared. Do they mean ensnared temporarily as suspects and then cleared because they ARE innocent? I''d be more alarmed if these same privacy advocates dealt less in vague categories ("innocent people") and hypotheses ("can be ensnared") and took even one case to court and showed me that Mr. John Doe had actually been harmed. Then the practice would be stopped, but apparently there is no such test case. An unfocused fear of some potential damage is not likely to equal "standing" in Federal Court, so fear-mongering takes the place of legal challenges from these advocates.
Posted by hypnotoad72 at 11:38 AM : Sep 09, 2007
There isn''t going to be a North American union, or you would hear the liars an dwater carriers for Bilderberg out there spinning it right now, you know the outlying waanbes like Joe Biden who are close enough to the inside to hear the plots but can''t keep their mouths shut.
You are going to get what you got now - Mexico gets to keep Mexico, and it gets the US too. You see the difference, my gullible friend? NAU means we all share - what we have now means the corporations play one "nation" against another to brulaize both. They LOVE divide and conquer, they are not going to put us together, for example what if the Teamsters organized the Mexican truckers? That would defeat the whole recent plan to intimidate and destroy the truckers, to keep them in fear and hunger and subjected to the hate of the rich.
The Mexican truckers are used to break the American truckers, the American poor right wing is used to intimidate and frighten the Hispanic servants, the Hispanic servants are used to cut wages and living standards for the American poor, and so on. Divide and conquer, every man''s hand is set against every other, except the oligarchy which is living it up.
So I made up one of my own. al-Qeada is in the CIA, ISI and MI6. They told Iraq about the military drills on 9/11. Iraq attacked the US with Beagles. The WTC has long been filled with demolition charges so it won''t fall over all over NYC. Israel knew about the attacks and kept quiet because as usual no one takes orders from a Jew. Not to mention what a godsend it would be for them. And yea, the spot hit on the Pentagon is just coincidence. A fighter pilot likes to bomb what you are building. The hole is too small for a plane, but too big for a missile. If it was a missile that big, the Pentagon would be the Triangle. The US government is keeping it quiet so Americans don''t go nuts and kill everyone.
And good luck with you surveillance, GPS, and RFID. If you really want the world to behave, you''ll have to just blow the whole thing up. Listen to me... for every bad person you shoot, three more are born. And half the time you shoot the wrong people.
And if it is real, will it really be such a bad thing? The superhighway alone would certainly help with transportation; a straight line is usually the fastest way to move things...
Wait and see, but all in all I''m looking forward to it.
They have been on the front lines defending America and The Constitution from the patriot act since 10/26/01
The sooner the people pick up arms and stop the people that THINK THEY RUN THE USA, the better we all will be. Big bothere must GO.
Illegal immigration are about 50% of the people where I live, I called the police and they told me so what.
So the FBI got tired of tracking down telemarketers?
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