them for violating our trust and any crimes they commit
On Jun 15, 9:27 am, Jonathan Ashley <jonathanashle...@lavabit.com>
wrote:
> *FBI Expands Agents� Investigative Power *
>
> The New York Times
> First published Jun 12 2011 07:40PM
> Updated Jun 12, 2011 11:28PM
>
> Washington � The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant
> new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents � allowing them more leeway to
> search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams
> to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.
>
> The FBI soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the
> Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official
> who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been
> briefed on its contents. The new rules add to several measures taken
> over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they search for
> signs of criminal or terrorist activity.
>
> The FBI recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming
> changes. Among them, Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a
> lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued it was unwise to
> further ease restrictions on agents� power to use potentially intrusive
> techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone
> of wrongdoing.
>
> "Claiming additional authorities to investigate people only further
> raises the potential for abuse," German said, pointing to complaints
> about the bureau�s surveillance of domestic political advocacy groups
> and mosques and to an inspector general�s findings in 2007 that the FBI
> had improperly used "national security letters" to obtain information
> like people�s phone bills.
>
> Valerie E. Caproni, the FBI general counsel, said the bureau had fixed
> the problems with the national security letters and had taken steps to
> make sure they would not recur. She also said the bureau � which does
> not need permission to alter its manual so long as the rules fit within
> broad guidelines issued by the attorney general � had carefully weighed
> the risks and the benefits of each change.
>
> Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of
> investigations, called an "assessment." The category, created in
> December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations
> "proactively" and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or
> terrorist activity.
>
> Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can
> search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement
> database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such
> databases without making a record about their decision.
>
> http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/51992858-68/agents-fbi-search-bure...
>
> --
>
> Freedom is always illegal!
>
> When we ask for freedom, we have already failed. It is only when we
> declare freedom for ourselves and refuse to accept any less, that we
> have any possibility of being free.
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment