Blow To Free Free Press: OK To Spy On ANYONE Who Handles "Secret" Gov Info

[kpete]

A federal judge ordered a probe into the leak of an investigation's details to CBS, the third inquiry of its kind in the past two years
(the other two being the Plame investigation and the New York TImes NSA warrantless wiretapping program).

It is now acceptable for the government to spy on anyone who handles government information "not generally available to the public"-- so much for the "Free Press".

Approving Use of Wiretap, Judge Deals Blow to Free Press
By Paul Kiel - August 24, 2006, 12:39 PM

Journalism took another hit yesterday when a federal judge ruled the government could legitimately tap the phones of anyone handling "material that is not generally available to the public."

As one observer noted, that's just what a free press traffics. "If the press could only report on 'information generally available to the public,' there would be no need for a press," secrecy expert Steven Aftergood told JTA.

.................

The ruling came in the AIPAC case, which deals with two pro-Israel lobbyists' receipt of classified intelligence from a Pentagon official. The two lobbyists had challenged the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by investigators to secretly record their conversations. But the judge ruled that “collection or transmission of material that is not generally available to the public” qualifies as an activity that could merit wiretapping under FISA.


more at:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001406.php
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/08/23/judge_orders_probe_of_leak_in_spy_case/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News+%2F+Nation

[ThomCat]

1. One step at a time they're reducing us to an uninformed

ignorant society. Soon enough there will be no expectation of being informed. Most people already assume that information is for experts, and that the public doesn't need to know.
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