The FBI's Secret Scrutiny( Records of Ordinary Americans)

[cal04]

In Hunt for Terrorists, Bureau Examines Records of Ordinary Americans
The FBI came calling in Windsor, Conn., this summer with a document marked for delivery by hand. On Matianuk Avenue, across from the tennis courts, two special agents found their man. They gave George Christian the letter, which warned him to tell no one, ever, what it said.

Under the shield and stars of the FBI crest, the letter directed Christian to surrender "all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person" who used a specific computer at a library branch some distance away. Christian, who manages digital records for three dozen Connecticut libraries, said in an affidavit that he configures his system for privacy. But the vendors of the software he operates said their databases can reveal the Web sites that visitors browse, the e-mail accounts they open and the books they borrow.

Christian refused to hand over those records, and his employer, Library Connection Inc., filed suit for the right to protest the FBI demand in public. The Washington Post established their identities -- still under seal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit -- by comparing unsealed portions of the file with public records and information gleaned from people who had no knowledge of the FBI demand.

The Connecticut case affords a rare glimpse of an exponentially growing practice of domestic surveillance under the USA Patriot Act, which marked its fourth anniversary on Oct. 26. "National security letters," created in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, originated as narrow exceptions in consumer privacy law, enabling the FBI to review in secret the customer records of suspected foreign agents. The Patriot Act, and Bush administration guidelines for its use, transformed those letters by permitting clandestine scrutiny of U.S. residents and visitors who are not alleged to be terrorists or spies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366.html

[tsuki]

1. This is why old 'Tex turned off the mics and closed the hearing

on the Patriot act.

[gratuitous]

2. Oh, the good old days are back for the Republicans

The shining example of COINTELPRO, along with secret wiretaps, blackmail and covert trials of citizens without their knowledge, finding them guilty of exercising their constitutional rights in a fashion inconvenient to the government.

Of course, a lot of people objected as soon as these protocols from the hideously misnamed USA PATRIOT Act were made public (and isn't it odd that they had this legislation all ready to go so soon after September 11?). But we were called paranoid: The government really isn't going to be going through the library records of ordinary citizens just because it can. Don't be silly!

This is what the United States has become under Republican stewardship: All the worst aspects of the Soviet Union under Stalin, complete with the cult of personality around a vain, incompetent leader, so suspicious of his own position that everyone must kowtow to him or be eliminated.

Thanks a fucking heap, William Rehnquist. I hope you and Satan are having a wonderful time right now, you crooked shyster.

[saigon68]

8. William Rehnquist was NOT INVITED to visit by SATAN

He is much too EVIL for Beelzebub

[gratuitous]

15. Hmmm, you could be right

It would be just like the Prince of Darkness to hide behind the blinds when Billy comes over to play. "Eugh," shudders His Infernal Majesty. "That guy just gives me the creeps." Meanwhile, his mom is saying "Go out and play with him, Satan. I have some vacuuming to do (nature abhors it, you know) and you'll just get in the way."

[saigon68]

21. lol

[Rich Hunt]

3. WOW

It was a letter, and it warned him to 'tell no one, ever'?

That's really creepy.

OTOH, that's not quite what the papers were reporting the first time this story broke. This is that Connecticut case, right? Why weren't the facts straight the first time?

Christian refused to hand over those records, and his employer, Library Connection Inc., filed suit for the right to protest the FBI demand in public. The Washington Post established their identities -- still under seal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit -- by comparing unsealed portions of the file with public records and information gleaned from people who had no knowledge of the FBI demand.

They said it was a library filing suit, not a private company that serves libraries. Very strange.

[NYC]

4. This is why cities passed resolutions against the Patriot Act.

NYC Council Bill of Rights Res. 60-2004

Excerpt:
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York opposes requests by federal authorities that, if granted, would cause agencies of the City of New York to exercise powers or cooperate in the exercise of powers in apparent violation of any city ordinance or the laws or Constitution of this State or the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York urges each of the City’s public libraries to inform library patrons that Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act gives the government new authority to monitor book-borrowing and Internet activities without patrons’ knowledge or consent and that this law prohibits library staff from informing patrons if federal agents have requested patrons’ library records; and be it further...

[slay]

5. BushCo government IS watching - Speak up now or lose your rights forever

If we don't have a right to privacy, then the government basically owns us. :(

[Fairlyunbalanced]

7. Hmmmm but why do you need privacy

if you're not doing anything detrimental to the people of the united states or the goverment that represents it?

So long as you're a good citizen that contributes to society, takes care of your health (so as not to draw on medical care), and produces children for our future economic and military security, why do you need privacy?

In these trying times we have to sacrifice a little freedom to gain the security needed to defend ourselves against the bird flu, sadaam, and al qaeda. :sarcasm:

I remember a quote by Ben Franklin:

"Those who would sacrifice a little liberty, to gain a little security, deserve neither and will have none."

[Rich Hunt]

9. um

What is the purpose of your remark on 'taking care of your health'? It's a bit of a non-sequitur, no? Please qualify that.

The notion that citizens are obligated to maintain some vague standard of 'health' is a fascist one. Please read up on Nazi Germany. That has no place in a discussion of the right to privacy.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Did you notice that little "sarcasm" thingie?

Wonder what that means.

[Rich Hunt]

17. yeah so do I

I'm not fond of that icon myself.

[nosmokes]

6. OFFS!

"People have to depend on their elected representatives to do the job of oversight they were elected to do," Caproni said. "And we think they do a fine job of it." right. like our elected representatives did such a great job of oversight on homeland security and FEMA.

[cal04]

10. GRAPHIC: Secret Access

National Security Letter

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2005/11/06/GR2005110600131.html


Since its enactment in 2001, the USA Patriot Act has spurred the FBI to probe tens of thousands of U.S. residents not alleged to be terrorists or spies.

[Rich Hunt]

18. wow

What crappy stationery. I'm embarrassed for our government.

[leveymg]

11. As we learned from Able Danger, they were doing this stuff before PA

The only difference was that the Pentagon was doing the data mining in secret, but only selectively sharing it with the FBI. Same for the CIA.

The age of privacy went away with the computer. Face it, every bit of data about you has been poked, probed, mined and collated by some federal agency. We have all been assigned labels and indexed as some kind of security threats according to algorithms that even the program designers don't understand.

The only way to deal with this is to demand that all classified information that doesn't meet the standards of a Title III criminal warrant investigation be released to the subject, and the rest destroyed.

None of this has ever been shown to prevent terrorism. It's just 1984 come to life with an American accent and a smiley face.B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) B-)

[Rich Hunt]

19. that's right

We have no right to privacy, and no good reason to expect it anymore. Anyone who expects that is a fool. You don't even have it in your own home. Anything can be 'procured' these days, it seems.

Face it, every bit of data on you has also been poked, prodded, bought and sold etc. by any criminal organization or corporation or other party that might have a substantial beef on you. Read 'No Place To Hide' for starters. I'd post quotes from it, but it's gone missing from my home.

If the former is plausible, then so is the latter.

But there really wasn't that much privacy BEFORE the 'computer age', either. What IS different is that more people than ever before can communicate to a vast audience.

[davsand]

13. What, exactly, makes specific "Ordinary Americans" persons of interest?

Would it be, perhaps, political activities? Involvement in organized labor (union membership, perhaps?) How about outspoken criticism of the current regime in the WhiteHouse?

Those questions and the probable answers make me shudder.

I'll grant you--my husband and my openly Democratic politics and our public affiliation with organized labor probably makes some of our GOP neighbors a bit unhappy--but I sincerely doubt that any of them honestly think we are any threat to anybody.

I can't fathom any reason at all for this kind of stuff to be going on except as a form of intimidation.

On a personal note, can you imagine how deadly dull it must be for these guys who are forced to sit there and review the tapes of phone calls or even eavesdrop in people's houses?

If I stop to think about it, on any given night in my house it probably consists of the dinner hour where the kidlette is talking about what she did in school that day and who she played with at recess and who got in trouble.

My husband is usually talking abut what computer or software glitch he solved that day (stuff like what printer was unplugged by accident or how an intern screwed up data entry and that level of general user stupidity.)

I'm usually talking about some property tax issue I'm hip deep in and trying to do legal research for or else talking about the asshole in my office suite...

That blazing and scintillating dinner conversation is usually followed by 3rd grade homework, family TV time, and some computer time...

Can you IMAGINE how bored those guys must be by the end of the night????

I doubt that we are much different than any other family out there, and THIS is how they are spending time and tax money... I can only assume this is what the current leadership deems important. GOP priorities just leave me shaking my head.



Laura

[glitch]

14. Waste of time, money and talent Welcome to Bushworld, new and improved! nt

[progressoid]

16. I remember when I was young and naive...

I thought that the ridiculous days of J. Edgar Hoover spying on horrible people like John Lennon were in the past.

It's amazing how quickly we can forget history and regress.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

20. Gotta love that FBI...

...not the least bit interested in two consecutive stolen presidential elections, but they need to know what books I've been checking out at the library. FBI---Fascist Brownshirts Incorporated.

[Rich Hunt]

22. what's weird, though

They didn't send the letter to a library - they sent it to a company that 'runs databases' for the library.

If they wanted library records, surely they could have sent
it directly to the library.

I wonder what they were looking for? What sort of
service was this?

[Rich Hunt]

23. oh okay

Turns out this was that 'gag order' case that we were reading about
a few weeks ago.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1348&dept_id=432860&newsid=15422689&PAG=461&rfi=9

Monroe's Library Director Robert Simon believes the case is a violation of the library patron's constitutional rights.

"The U.S.A. Patriot Act forbids librarians from telling anyone for the rest of their lives that the government demanded information on a citizen," Simon said. "We cannot tell our town officials, library trustees, professional colleagues, staff, family, friend. No one. Where is the freedom of speech in this country if such a gag order is allowed to stand?"

and -

Another development in the case is that the Connecticut library association whose patrons' records may be part of the FBI probe has been identified in news reports as Windsor-based Library Connection Inc.

The American Library Association (ALA), of which Library Connection is a member, joined the ACLU in trying to get the Supreme Court to lift the gag order. In doing so, the ALA also named Library Connection.

[GliderGuider]

24. Remember, terrorists hate you for your freedoms

So if you can just get rid of all your freedoms they'll stop hating you! See how positive this is if you just look at it the right way?

Papieren, Bitte...

[Rich Hunt]

25. if I ever got a letter like that

I'd make a .pdf and post in online.

Screw the Patriot Act and the fascists!