Wednesday, July 11, 2007

FBI Would Skirt the Law With Proposed Phone Record Program, Experts Say

ABC News reports, “A proposed new FBI program would skirt federal laws by paying private companies to hold millions of phone and Internet records which the bureau is barred from keeping itself, experts say.” “The $5 million project would apparently pay private firms to store at least two years' worth of telephone and Internet activity by millions of Americans, few of whom would ever be considered a suspect in any terrorism, intelligence or criminal matter,” explains the report.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

New York Plans Surveillance Veil for Downtown

The New York Times reports, “By the end of this year, police officials say, more than 100 cameras will have begun monitoring cars moving through Lower Manhattan, the beginning phase of a London-style surveillance system that would be the first in the United States.” According to the report, “The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, as the plan is called, will resemble London’s so-called Ring of Steel, an extensive web of cameras and roadblocks designed to detect, track and deter terrorists.”

Court Supports Bush in Wiretap Suit

The Los Angeles Times reports, “A federal appeals court on Friday handed the Bush administration a major victory, ruling that plaintiffs who had challenged its domestic spying program did not have legal standing to do so.” According to the report, “The 2-1 decision by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sent the case back to a judge in Detroit, who last year ruled the program unconstitutional. The panel ordered U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor to dismiss the case, but it did not rule on the program's legality.”

Judges OK Warrantless Monitoring Of Web Use

“Federal agents do not need a search warrant to monitor a suspect's computer use and determine the e-mail addresses and Web pages the suspect is contacting, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.” The San Francisco Chronicle reports, “In a drug case from San Diego County, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco likened computer surveillance to the ‘pen register’ devices that officers use to pinpoint the phone numbers a suspect dials, without listening to the phone calls themselves.”

 
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