FBI Gets Caught Digging Too Deep
Recent documents obtained by a watchdog group through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the FBI has been digging through the phone records of citizens in much more detail than was previously thought. The more than 2,500 pages of released FBI documents show a disturbing pattern in which the agency sent letters to telecommunications operators under the guise of national security. The letters not only requested the phone records of people under suspicion, but also requested information about other citizens these people under suspicion spoke with -- citizens the FBI referred to in the request letters as a 'community of interest.' The intent of these 'community of interest' requests was to pour through records in the hopes of uncovering previously undiscovered connections between people, and possibly tip the FBI off to a suspect's co-conspirators. This practice of searching for a needle in a haystack is commonly known as data mining.
Privacy advocates say that these information requests are unreasonable and risk ensnaring innocent people. On the other hand, one could also make the argument that anyone speaking to a terror suspect should be considered a suspect too. We're not going to argue either side, but what we do find disturbing about this practice is the fact that the letters to the tel-cos eluded to grand jury subpoenas for the sought after information when, in fact, no requests for grand jury subpoenas had ever been filed in these cases.
Though the FBI has stopped the use of these 'community of interest' requests, it's clear the agency isn't at all shy about bending American laws in order to get what it wants. We can only speculate at the kinds of dubious investigatory methods that future Freedom of Information Act releases will shed light on.
From USA Today
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