FBI checking into Murdoch media enterprises for possible bribery

Finding no substantiation for charges that News Corp journalists hacked phones in the U.S., the FBI is now checking to see if they bribed foreign law enforcement officers in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. News Corp declined to comment on the investigation. -db From Reuters, February 7, 2012, by Mark Hosenball and [...]

Federal judge rules FBI cannot withhold information about informant from Civil Rights era

A federal district judge ruled that the FBI could not use a Freedom of Information Act exclusion in denying access to records about a civil rights era photographer who was an informant for the agency. The judge said the FBI confirmed the relationship with their response to the FOIA request so could not then withhold [...]

Government watchdog alleges FBI stonewalling on WikiLeaks surveillance

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has sued the Justice Department and the FBI claiming that they refuse to release information on the FBI’s surveillance of citizens who have shown support for or interest in WikiLeaks. EPIC made the Freedom of Information Act complaint in federal court. -db From the Courthouse News Service, January 31, [...]

EFF seeks records on drones in U.S. airspace

The Electric Freedom Foundation is suing the Department of Transportation for its records on drones operating in U.S. airspace. EFF claims the drones are used for surveillance of U.S.  citizens and are a matter of great public concern. -db From The Washington Post, January 13, 2012, by Jason Ukman. Full story    

New software protects anonymous speakers on Internet

Graduate students are developing software that could be used to protect whistleblowers, human rights advocates, and hackers. -db From The New York Times, January 3, 2012, by Nicole Perlroth. Full story  

Federal court sanctions federal government for lying about existence of records on surveillance of Muslim groups

A federal district court in California objected to the FBI’s practice of withholding information from the court whenever it thinks it serves the interest of national security. While the court said national security interests could justify withholding the information about targeting Muslim organizations from the Islamic Shura Council and its attorneys, it could not block [...]

Freedom of information: Muslim group blocked from seeing FBI investigative guidelines

A federal district judge ruled that the Justice Department does not have to provide a Muslim civil rights group with FBI investigative guidelines. The judge held that revealing the guidelines would compromise the FBI’s ability to conduct investigations and prosecutions. -db From  The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, November 15, 2011, by J.C. [...]

Federal judge rules against New York Times in withholding of records of FBI terrorism investigations

A federal judge ruled that the FBI could withhold data from its terrorism investigations from a New York Times investigative reporter. The judge said The New York Times had not rebutted the FBI’s statement that they had fulfilled requests made under the Freedom of Information Act except for that under FOIA exemption. -db From the [...]

Sources in peril as journalists fail to keep pace in cybersecurity

A robust free press often relies on anonymous sources with reporters going to prison to protect these sources, but with the advances in electronic surveillance, journalists are ill-equipped to protect these sources, writes Christopher Soghoian, an expert in cybersecurity, in an op-ed for The New York Times. Soghoian says that news organizations need to invest [...]

Domestic spying pervasive since 9/11

President Barack Obama has done nothing to fulfill his promise to curtail warrantless spying and in fact wants Congress to renew powers given to the federal government to conduct the surveillance. Writing a commentary for Wired, Ryan Singel quotes Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute on the effectiveness of the spying, “We have become so [...]

CIA wants to censor book by former FBI agent about 9/11 and terrorism

The Central Intelligence Agency is demanding that a memoir of a former FBI agent be heavily cut before publication. The agent was at the forefront of the fight against Al Qaeda and terrorism and makes some pointed criticisms of CIA errors including the harsh interrogation of the first important captive after 9/11. People close to [...]

ACLU sues for records of FBI’s domestic spying

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the FBI and the National Security Agency for withholding information about the eGuardian monitoring system that collects information on “suspicious activity” that may include taking photos of important buildings. The ACLU has been unsuccessful in its attempts to acquire the information through the Freedom of Information Act. The [...]

FBI teps up investigation of Mudoch’s News Corp

In response to claims of strong-arm tactics, the FBI is looking into whether Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp engaged in a concerted campaign of computer hacking. Time magazine says the FBI is looking at whether the company used illegal strong-arm tactics on rivals. News Corp said that an incidence of computer hacking traced to one of [...]

ACLU files public records requests on cell phone tracking by law enforcement

Affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union filed 379 public records requests in 31 states to find out how local law enforcement agencies are using cell phone location to track citizens. Writing for the ACLU, Allie Bohn says that laws don’t always keep up with technology and civil liberties suffer, “…while we believe that law [...]

FBI tries to block book by whistleblower

A flounder of a national whistleblowers group has sued the FBI for preventing her from publishing a book though she claims the book contains no classified information. Sibel D. Edmonds had worked for the FBI after 9/11 as a contractor rather than an employee and said that many of her reports about misconduct of co-workers [...]

Opinion: Tabloid use of illegal tactics should deprive it of First Amendment protection

A former tabloid reporter says the tabloids are mired in illegal conduct so dependent on it that they could not compete with the mainstream press without it. Tabloids routinely practice bribery and extortion along with other borderline activities. In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro says, “Although the law provides us [...]

FBI investigating News Corp. over possible attempts to hack phones of 9/11 victims

The FBI is investigating News Corp.’s phone-hacking activities, and, according to one unnamed source, the investigation will determine whether News Corp. tried to hack into the phones of 9/11 victims. Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch has formed an independent committee to investigate the phone-hacking allegations, and former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks resigned [...]

Federal court says FBI and CIA must produce documents on Oklahoma City bombing sought under FOIA

A federal judge has ordered the FBI and CIA to to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request filed by a attorney seeking documents on the  Oklahoma City bombing. After the bombing, the attorney’s  brother, who sported a dragon tattoo similar to that of an unidentified accomplice in the bombing, was detained in federal [...]

Federal agencies caught lying over freedom of information requests

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appears to have lied in federal court about a Freedom of Information Act suit seeking  information about an ICE program called “Secure Communities.” ICE is seeking to require local agencies to run the fingerprints through a federal database of all individuals arrested . Under a court order to provide metadata [...]

Texas man suing New York Times for libel in article on bombing conspiracy

An FBI informant, Brandon Darby, is suing The New York Times over an article that said he was involved in a conspiracy to bomb the 2008 Republic National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. The informant said he instead tipped off the FBI that two men were manufacturing Molotov cocktails to use against the police and [...]

Memphis newspaper sues FBI for records on civil rights spy

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is suing the FBI for records about a photographer who was “advising the government of the plans and activities of civil rights leaders” in the 1960s. -db Courthouse News Service November 8, 2010 By Ryan Abbott WASHINGTON (CN) – The Memphis Commercial Appeal sued the FBI, saying the Bureau is unreasonably [...]

Obama administration planning to spy on Internet and e-mail

To monitor terrorists and criminals who are increasingly using the Internet and social media to conduct business, the Obama administration wants to require technical changes to facilitate wiretaps of those venues. -db Daily Mail September 27, 2010 By Daily Mail Reporter Broad new regulations being drafted by the Obama administration would make it easier for [...]

Justice Department absolves FBI of violating First Amendment rights

A Justice Department investigation concluded that since 2001, the FBI had improperly monitored some activists and political groups but did not target any individual or group for exercising their First Amendment rights. -db The Washington Post September 20, 2010 By Jerry Markon The FBI improperly investigated some left-leaning U.S. advocacy groups after the Sept. 11, [...]

Domestic spying: Uncle Sam developing ability to reach wide and deep on Internet

Through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that the FBI and CIA are aggressively perfecting their ability to probe social networks and the Internet for intelligence data much of which is outside the law enforcement context. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary August 16, 2010 By Tim Wayne In the [...]

Muslim civil liberties group files suit to force police to release information on raid resulting in cleric’s death

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is seeking details about a raid led by the FBI on a Muslim cleric suspected of running a criminal gang. The cleric was killed by agents. -db Wall Street Journal August 9,2010 By Alex P. Kellogg DETROIT—A leading Muslim advocacy group is accusing local and state law-enforcement agencies of improperly [...]

Gag order eased for man fighting FBI over warrantless investigation

A president of an Internet service provider can for the first time speak about a gag on his telling anyone he had received an national security letter demanding private customer records. The ACLU argues that without a court order the FBI should at least show individual suspicion before invading the privacy and free speech rights [...]

Foundation uses Freedom of Information Act in seeking records on Patriot Act effectiveness

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed suit to obtain records on the effectiveness of provisions of the Patriot Act giving the FBI powers to seize electronic records and property and to wiretap phone conversations. The provisions are up for Congressional review early next year. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation May 11, 2010 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The [...]

Study of FBI documents shows censorship withheld harmless information

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that in the face of Freedom of Information Act requests, federal agencies hide their activities in excessive secrecy in spite of Obama administration directives to the agencies to make a “presumption of openness” in implementing FOIA requests. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary March 15, 2010 By David L. Sobel As [...]

FBI investigating school district for activating webcams in student’s home

After a high school administrator accused a student of “inappropriate behavior,” it came out that, without the knowledge of the student or his parents, the administrator obtained a photo of the behavior at the student’s home from a webcam in a laptop issued by the school. -db The Pittsburgh Channel.com February 19, 2010 A law-enforcement [...]

Records show FBI illegally obtained telephone call records

The FBI trampled the civil liberties of United States citizens by gathering up over 2,000 phone records between 2002 and 2006 by faking terrorism emergencies or simply strong-arming phone companies. -DB The Washington Post January 19, 2010 By John Solomon and Carrie Johnson The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between [...]

Foundation questions Obama administration openness about legal procedures for obtaining phone records

A Electronic Freedom Foundation senior attorney says a recent government report posits a new legal theory affirming the FBI’s right to obtain phone records without going through a legal process but does not provide the basis for the theory or even the statutory section number the FBI uses. -DB Electronic Freedom Foundation Commentary January 21, [...]

FBI agent fired after sending unclassified documents to pro-Israel lobby

A Jewish-American FBI agent is suing for the right to defend himself against unspecified charges that resulted in his termination and the revocation of his security clearance. The agent had sent unclassified articles by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service and unclassified State Department documents to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. -DB Secrecy News Federation [...]

Newspaper gives FBI identity of web commenter in criminal investigation

In response to a grand jury subpoena, the Knoxville News Sentinel gave the FBI the identity of a person commenting on its Web site. The subpoena was part of an FBI investigation into death threats made against defense attorneys in a carjacking and murder trial. Given the narrow nature of the request, the newspaper felt [...]

FBI investigated programmer after he helped obtain federal court records

A 22-year-old programmer found out this week from a Freedom of Information Act request that the FBI investigated him for helping put public documents online. -DB Privacy Digest October 6, 2009 By Mac Ronin When Aaron Swartz, a 22 year-old programmer, decided last fall to help an open government activist amass a public and free [...]

Puerto Rico: ACLU appeals ruling that FBI not responsible for attacking reporters

Although a federal court found the FBI agents’ attack on several journalists unconstitutional, they found that the agents could not be held responsible for their actions. -DB American Civil Liberties Union Press Release September 10, 2009 SAN JUAN, PR – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed an appeal of a federal court ruling that found [...]