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CORRUPTION UPDATES 112 Previous Page: Page 111 All Archives Next page: Page 113 Contact Us: Committeefordemocracy.org 1) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms. FBI's phone record requests cast wide netAnalysis generated long lists of names connected to targetsSunday, September 9, 2007 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/09/MNG3S20S3.DTL (09-09) 04:00 PDTWashington - -- The FBI cast a much wider net in its terrorism investigations than it has previously acknowledged by relying on telecommunications companies to analyze phone calls of the associates of Americans who had come under suspicion, according to newly obtained bureau records. The documents indicate that the Federal Bureau of Investigation used secret demands for records to obtain data not only on individuals it saw as targets but also details on their "community of interest" - the network of people the target in turn was in contact with. The bureau stopped the practice early this year in part because of broader questions raised about its aggressive use of the records demands, which are known as national security letters, officials said. The community-of-interest data sought by the FBI is central to a data-mining technique intelligence officials call link analysis. Communities of interestTypically, community-of-interest data might include an analysis of which people the targets called most frequently, how long they generally talked and at what times of day, sudden fluctuations in activity, geographic regions that were called, and other data, law enforcement and industry officials said. The FBI declined to say exactly what data had been turned over. It was limited to people and phone numbers "once removed" from the actual target of the national security letters, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a continuing review by the Justice Department. In a statement Saturday, Mike Kortan, a spokesman for the FBI, responded to this article posted on the Web site of the New York Times by saying that "it is important to emphasize" that community of interest data is "no longer being used pending the development of an appropriate oversight and approval policy, was used infrequently, and was never used for e-mail communications." The requests for such data showed up a dozen times, using nearly identical language, in records from one six-month period in 2005 obtained by a nonprofit advocacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that it brought against the government. The FBI recently turned over 2,500 pages of documents to the group. The boilerplate language suggests that the requests may have been used in many of more than 700 emergency or "exigent" national security letters. Earlier this year, the bureau banned the use of the exigent letters because they had never been authorized by law. The bureau declined to discuss any aspect of the community-of-interest requests because it said the issue was part of an investigation by the Justice Department inspector general's office into national security letters. An initial review in March by the inspector general found widespread violations and possible illegality in the FBI's use of the letters, but did not mention the use of community-of-interest data. The government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the FBI recently stopped asking the telecommunications companies for the community-of-interest data. The exact time of and reason for the suspension is unclear, but it appears to have been set off in part by the questions raised earlier this year by the inspector general's initial review into abuses in the use of national security letters. A federal judge in New York last week struck down parts of the USA Patriot Act that had authorized the FBI's use of the national security letters, saying that some provisions violated the First Amendment and the constitutional separation of powers guarantee. In many cases, the target of a national security letter whose records are being sought is not necessarily the actual subject of a terrorism investigation and may not be suspected at all. Under the Patriot Act, the FBI must assert only that the records gathered through the letter are considered relevant to a terrorism investigation. Some legal analysts and privacy advocates suggested that the disclosure of the FBI's collection of community-of-interest records - extending the link even further beyond an actual suspect in a terrorism investigation - offered another example of the bureau exceeding the substantial powers already granted it by Congress. "This whole concept of tracking someone's community of interest is not part of any established FBI authority," said Marcia Hofmann, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which provided the records from its lawsuit to the New York Times. "It's being defined by the FBI. And when it's left up to the FBI to decide what information is relevant to their investigations, they can vacuum up almost anything they want." "This sort of analysis of calling patterns and who the communities of interests are is the sort of things telephone companies are doing anyway because it's central to their businesses for marketing or optimizing the network or detecting fraud," said Blaze, who has worked with the FBI on technology issues. Such "analysis is extremely powerful and very revealing because you get these linkages between people that wouldn't be otherwise clear, sometimes even more important than the content itself" of phone calls, he said. "But it's also very invasive. There's always going to be a certain amount of noise," with data collected on people who have no real links to suspicious activity, he said. The FBI is Spying on You Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September 9, 2007 The plain facts of the illegal searching situation are clear: the President has unleashed all the powers of the executive branch to spy on Americans without a warrant, let alone any proof of criminal behavior. Both the FBI as well as the NSA have been given, and are following, illegal orders in direct contravention of the Constitution and laws of our country. The Executive Branch is conducting both general searches of the Nation's communications, and are targeting individual communications for comprehensive warrantless searches. As bad as this is, it is just one aspect of a massive consolidation of police state powers in the Executive Branch. The President has claimed and exorcized the authority equal to one of the tin-plated third-world dictators our country has supported for over a century. From Bataista in Cuba to Marcos in the Fillippines, to the Shah in Iran, America has backed cruel and vicious dictators when they would do our bidding. Now the President is bringing the powers we have imposed on our victims back here, to the homeland of tyranny. Our President, on the authority of his word alone, has claimed the same power for his office as he has granted to the Dictatorships we support around the world: Unlimited, unchecked authority to order kidnappings, construct a system of secret prisons dedicated to torture, and form Executive Branch kangaroo courts where guilt is predetermined by the process itself. Today we support the ring of dictatorships which encircles Israel: Egypt to the South, Saudi Arabia to the North, and Jordan to the East. Musharraf in Pakistan rounds out the list of American supported dictators in the region, if you rate the Iraqi and Afghan governments as ineffective, and all the Emirates we prop up along the Gulf as politically and militarily insignificant. Bush is claiming that holding the Presidency puts him, Bush the man, above the law and the Constitution itself, and is exercising the same authority as Mubarak claims in Egypt. Even more troubling is the fact that both the Republican and the Democratic Congresses have passed illegal, unconstitutional laws which pretend to authorize the President's crimes as well as his claims to illegal powers. The previous Repugnant Congress passing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which pretended to give up habius corpus. The Current Democrapic Congress passed a law that pretends to void the 4th Amendment, giving the President what it has no power to give: unlimited searching power. It is apparent to any citizen that our government has run well past its Constitutional Bounds. Our elections are farces financed and conducted by our corporate dominated parties, and they resemble auctions more than elections. This Congress, as the last, sits gorging itself at the trough of corruption as the President wages illegal war in Iraq and here, against our civil liberties. This government is illegitimate by the terms of our Constitution. It is time to make one small change to our democratic process that will swiftly return it to democracy: Let's stop all bribes and contributions from any source that is ineligible to vote in the election. No vote-No contribution. To maintain the right of people to assemble in parties, and support their ideas and values by supporting their party's candidates, while preventing party money from dominating local elections, we will cap all party contributions to candidates at no more than 30% of the contributions collected from local qualified voters. Until we curb the corruption and criminality that has subverted our democracy and captured our government, it will continue to be illegitimate by the terms of our own Constitution. As our government is presently constructed, it presents a continuing threat to the rights and welfare of Americans, as well as a clear threat to the people around the world who seek the freedom to define their own lives. New Information, September 7, 2007 The Terror Presidency: ABC report on Jack Goldsmith's new book. Goldsmith was head legal counsel in Justice, eventually resigning over criminal spying program. NSA Domestic Spying Mark Klein legal Deposition, pdf Mark Klein, Transcript from Frontline, May 15, 2007 Frontline, homepage for Spying on the Homefront The power of Naris surveillance, Wired, May 17, 2006 In the Hospital Comey testimony before Congress, UTube, 20 minutes. Very informative. Corruption Updates 70, 5th article on the page, Democrats May Subpoena N.S.A. Documents (Comey testified to Congress about the hospital assault, Congress wanted legal justifications for program, and his side of the episode from Gonzales) Corruption Updates 95, 5th article on the page, Gonzales testifies in firings row: And Lied to Congress about the hospital assault Corruption Updates 104, 1st article on the page, Mueller Notes Detail Pressure on Ashcroft Over Spying: Gonzales Caught Lying, yet Again Background Links Corruption Updates 88, 6th article on the page, Bush Authorized Domestic Spying: Bush is a Criminal, and an Enemy of our Constitution Corruption Updates 88, 7th article on the page, Spying on the Home Front Also See Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES" Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on the page, "FBI CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM" Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on the page, "PRESIDENT TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION: CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND ABOVE THE LAW" Corruption Updates 36, 5th article on the page, "White House Confirms Americans Have No Constitutional Protections" Corruption Updates 41, 5th article on the page, "FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says: HOW DO YOU SAY ILLEGAL SEARCH? “National Security Letter" Corruption Updates 51, 9th article on the page, "Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law" Corruption Updates 97, 2nd article on the page, "Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control" The Situation as of September 7, 2007 The final Solution: Congress passes illegal Domestic Spying law authorizing warrantless NSA searches within the US New Illegal Domestic Spying Law gives President Unlimited Searching Powers Search the Corruption Database under Illegal Searches (42 Abstracts) Federal Bureau of Investigation (7 Abstracts) Speak your Mind here! Send your Comments about the Topic Above for Posting! Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Judge Invalidates Patriot Act Provisions By Dan Eggen http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090601438_pf.html A federal judge struck down controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act in a ruling that declared them unconstitutional yesterday, ordering the FBI to stop its wide use of a warrantless tactic for obtaining e-mail and telephone data from private companies for counterterrorism investigations. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York said the FBI's use of secret "national security letters" to demand such data violates the First Amendment and constitutional provisions on the separation of powers, because the FBI can impose indefinite gag orders on the companies and the courts have little opportunity to review the letters. The secrecy provisions are "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values," Marrero wrote. His strongly worded 103-page opinion amounted to a rebuke of both the administration and Congress, which had revised the act in 2005 to take into account an earlier ruling by the judge on the same topic. Although a government appeal is likely, the decision could eliminate or sharply curtail the FBI's issuance of tens of thousands of national security letters (NSLs) each year to telephone companies, Internet providers and other communications firms. The FBI says it typically orders that such letters be kept confidential to make sure that suspects do not learn they are being investigated, as well as to protect "sources and methods" used in terrorism and counterintelligence probes. The ruling follows reports this year by Justice Department and FBI auditors that the FBI potentially violated privacy laws or bureau rules more than a thousand times while issuing NSLs in recent years -- violations that did not come to light quickly, partly because of the Patriot Act's secrecy rules. "The risk of investing the FBI with unchecked discretion to restrict such speech is that government agents, based on their own self-certification, may limit speech that does not pose a significant threat to national security or other compelling government interest," Marrero said. But Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in the case, said the ruling "is yet another setback in the Bush administration's strategy in the war on terror and demonstrates the far-reaching efforts of this administration to use powers that are clearly unconstitutional." Marrero's decision would bar the use of NSLs to demand data from electronic communications companies, a procedure that was the focus of the lawsuit. But the ruling appears to leave untouched the FBI's ability to demand bank records, credit reports and other financial data related to counterterrorism and other probes, because those authorities are covered by other statutes, according to legal experts. Marrero delayed enforcement of his order for 90 days to give the government a chance to appeal. Yesterday's ruling marks the second time that Marrero has struck down the Patriot Act's NSL provisions. In 2004, after the ACLU filed suit on behalf of the same plaintiff -- an Internet service provider identified as John Doe -- he ruled similarly that the NSL provisions were unconstitutional because they silenced recipients and gave them no recourse through the courts. While a government appeal was pending, Congress passed legislation in 2005 aimed at solving the problems identified by Marrero. But the judge ruled yesterday that the revisions were not adequate and that under the new law, "several aspects . . . violate the First Amendment and the principle of separation of powers." The new legislation essentially required the courts to go along with the gag orders as long as the FBI certified that the secrecy was justified. Most lawmakers were quiet about yesterday's ruling. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), the only senator to vote against the original Patriot Act in 2001, said in a statement, "Congress needs to fix the mess it created when it gave the government overly-broad powers to obtain sensitive information about Americans." Judge Throws Criminal "Patriot" Act back into President and Congress' Faces Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September 10, 2007 The specific words of the Fourth Amendment of The Constitution are: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and No warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on the page, FBI CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT: REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM Corruption Updates 40, 10th article on the page, CONGRESS KNEW THEY WERE GIVING AWAY OUR RIGHTS&FREEDOMS WITH THE “PATRIOT” ACT
Illegal searching links Search the Corruption Database under Patriot Act (6 Abstracts) Federal Bureau of Investigation Illegal Searches (44 Abstracts)
Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
3) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Lawmakers Challenge Plan to Expand Spying By Spencer S. Hsu http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090601128_pf.html Senior House Democrats called on the Bush administration yesterday to delay a planned Oct. 1 expansion of the use of powerful satellite and aircraft spy technology by local and federal law enforcement agencies, challenging the plan's legality and charging that the administration is failing to safeguard the privacy of Americans. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and two Democratic subcommittee chairmen jointly asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide the legal framework for the domestic use of classified and military spy satellites, and to allow Congress to review privacy and civil liberties protections. "You let this thing go, it may be another blank check to the executive. It may morph into things that will terrify you if you really understand the capabilities of satellites," said Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), former ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Their demand was made in a letter after DHS officials testified about the spying program at a hearing, and signaled that administration officials had not succeeded in quieting Democrats' concerns about the intrusiveness of the satellite technology -- which was created primarily for foreign surveillance -- and the novelty of its proposed use by state and local police officials. Invoking the controversy over President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program, which was kept secret from most lawmakers for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Harman contended that the administration gave incomplete or misleading briefings about that program and disregarded laws passed by Congress. "Since we've been rolled, I intend not to get rolled again," Harman said, although she acknowledged the potential value of the new program. The hearing was set after news reports in August said that beginning this fall, intelligence officials and DHS will allow broader domestic use of some of the nation's most secret and advanced spying technology. Administration officials say the program can help domestic authorities deal with a variety of threats, from illegal immigration and terrorism to hurricanes and forest fires, by providing access to high-resolution, real-time satellite photos. Military sensors can peer through clouds and tree canopies, detect underground bunkers and penetrate buildings. Charles Allen, Homeland Security's chief intelligence officer, told the committee that overhead satellite imagery has been used legally for decades to support domestic, federal, scientific, law enforcement and security uses. It has been used to create maps, monitor volcanoes and scout sports events. Representatives of several civil liberties groups testified against the move. They said the government appears to be crossing a well-established line against the use of military assets in domestic law enforcement. THE COMMITTEE SAYS:Military Satellites Used on to Spy on Americans Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007 "overhead satellite imagery has been used legally for decades to support domestic, federal, scientific, law enforcement and security uses." (Homeland Security) Our political leadership seems to believe that each advance in technology somehow erodes or voids our Constitution. The plain fact of the matter is that our government has stopped using the principals of our Constitution to guide or limit its actions. Ours is a government out of control. New technology does not void our fundamental principals, but it challenges us, those who believe in our revolution and Constitution, to translate our fundamental rights and principals into these contemporary times, as our politicians have rendered themselves incapable of defending our rights. Our politicians acceptance of corporate democracy-election by open bribery-has rendered them incompetent to defend our rights or Constitution. These creatures of corruption can only be depended on to serve their own selfish interests and those of their corporate sponsors. See the links in #2, above. Search the Corruption Database under Illegal Searches
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4) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Traveler Assessments Little AlteredSunday, September 9, 2007 (09-09) 09:52 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) – http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2007/09/09/national/w020912D69.DTL&type=printable Rejecting a wave of criticisms, the government has agreed to only modest changes in the computerized system that assesses whether each American who travels abroad poses a terrorist threat. The Homeland Security Department decided to keep the risk assessments for 15 years instead of 40 years and no longer will share them with federal, state and local officials who are deciding whether a person gets a job, a security clearance, a license to do business or a government contract. Nevertheless, travelers still will not be allowed to see their actual assessments or the reasons for them. Federal agents still will be looking at an array of information about international travelers — Americans and foreigners; this includes even meal choices, the names of traveling companions and the number of hotel beds requested. "The revisions are useful, but they don't go to the heart of the matter," said James Dempsey, policy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group. "Why should the government keep massive databases about people it has decided are innocent?" Privacy advocates and civil libertarians also condemn the remedies for people who believe they were wrongly detained, delayed or even denied the right to travel. The department's decision to continue the Automated Targeting System with few changes took effect last Thursday. Members of Congress, business travel associations, privacy and civil liberties groups and even European legislators protested after Homeland Security disclosed details of the system last fall for the first time; it had gone in service in 1999. Some critics said the entire program was illegal; others wanted parts of it changed. Government Keeps Secret Files on Millions of Americans Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007 That is not the final limit of the government's new, extended reach. Your most personal secrets are also vulnerable. Medical records and credit card purchases will be combined with your communication information to allow the government to secretly examine every aspect of your public and private live. Combine this with an overlay of your cell phone's GPS feature, and the government can create a record of your communications, your social connections, your consumption patterns, and your physical location. And all of this power can be exorcized without a search warrant or legislative oversight, according to Bush. Presently, the administration claims that this information only being used to secretly determine who may and may not fly. The program far exceeds the Administration's very limited definitions. It is arguably being used to harass political enemies. Ted Kennedy is on the no fly list. In actuality it is apparent that the President has authorized a massive general search of the nation's citizens through our phones and computers, our business and medical records, satellites, and apparently every record we generate while living our lives, The NSA is running an electronic fishing net through America's massive digital communications system, using powerful computers and software to track relationships between regular citizens, as well as monitor suspect domestic political and religious groups. Expect this information, and the illegal authority behind it, to be constantly added to, and ultimately be used as a domestic political weapon by whichever party is in power. You should not be surprised when "secret" information comes out that this massive government databases of illegal searches is being used as a political weapon in an important election. You should not be surprised when people are shot down for jobs, credit, and public office by threats of disclosing embarrassing conversations and connections gleaned from the President's illegal searches. In truth, information, like political power, is only as secure as the ethics of the individuals who collect it. Our forefathers understood that individuals lacked ethics, and responded by severely limiting legitimate governmental power, and hedged it even further with cross-branch checks. Our Constitution clearly denies the government exactly the same power Bush is claiming: to unilaterally inspect the private lives of our citizens. In today's political climate of unbridled corruption, crooked politicians, parties, and elections, the President's open defiance of Constitutional limits and his open attack on our named Constitutional rights, patriotic Americans can clearly see just why our Founders denied the government, and all of its branches, unlimited power. We may still have time to slam the door shut on these illegal governmental powers and the traitors who allowed them into our government, Unwarranted searches, secret prisons, and torture are un american, and all who helped establish these powers in our government must be severely punished, preferably in the countries where they committed these crimes. But it may be too late; the alignment of economic, political and social power that has crushed our democracy and stolen our rights has transformed the duty of citizenship into obedience to the boss, rewarded by consumption. Citizenship today is a reward for breaking our laws, and replacing responsibility to your country with obedience to the boss. We have few here who put their duty to our country above their addiction to consumption. Trove of F.B.I. Files on Lawyers Guild Shows Scope of Secret Surveillance: Proof of Criminal Government Spans Seven Presidencies, NY Times, June 25, 2007 Search the Corruption Database under
Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
5) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. Competing voices in GOP on immigrant laborersBy Susan Ferriss - Bee Staff Writer
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