Fergie's Tech Blog

FBI Slips Demand Patriot Act Cuts

Jennifer Granick writes on Wired News:

The Department of Justice Inspector General issued a report last week detailing the FBI's misuse of national security letters to collect information about innocent Americans without any connection to terrorism.

A national security letter, or NSL, is a special request for records that (unlike a search warrant) is never seen by a judge. Under the expanded powers granted by the USA Patriot Act, any FBI field supervisor can lawfully issue an NSL and serve it on libraries, telephone companies and businesses to get records on anyone in the country.

All that's required is an FBI certification that that the records are "sought for" or "relevant to" an investigation "to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." There is no judicial or Department of Justice review, and the agency can keep the information it obtains forever.

With power like that, you wouldn't think that the FBI could push the envelope even further. But it has.

posted by Fergie @ 3/14/2007 09:59:00 AM