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Thread: FBI abused spy law but only like 280,000 times in a year

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    Administrator Aragorn's Avatar
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    FBI abused spy law but only like 280,000 times in a year

    Source: The Register


    Well, well, well, if it isn't the Leaning Tower of FISA again


    The FBI misused controversial surveillance powers more than 278,000 times between 2020 and early 2021 to conduct warrantless searches on George Floyd protesters, January 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol, and donors to a Congressional campaign, according to a newly unclassified court opinion.

    On Friday, the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court made public a heavily redacted April 2022 opinion [PDF] that details hundreds of thousands of violations of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — the legislative instrument that allows warrantless snooping.

    The Feds were found to have abused the spy law in a "persistent and widespread" manner, according to the court, repeatedly failing to adequately justify the need to go through US citizens' communications using a law aimed at foreigners.

    Section 702 is supposed to permit the federal government to spy on communications belonging to foreign individuals outside of America, theoretically to prevent criminal and terrorist acts. Those communications can sweep up phone calls, texts and emails with US persons, however, and are stored in massive databases. The FBI, CIA and NSA can search these communications without a warrant.

    In the doublespeak world of American intelligence, such information isn't technically stored; it's only considered so if it's actually used by analysts. And while foreign communications are fair game, the Feds can search about three levels down in data - ie, who the suspect talked to, and who their contact spoke to, and the next line in the communications link - so think Kevin Bacon levels of contacts.

    Although the law is not supposed to be used to surveil American citizens, the government has historically used this data to monitor activists, journalists, and others without obtaining a warrant. These communications can then be used to prosecute people for crimes, and have been.

    The police power is set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress renews it. With this looming deadline, the now-unclassified court documents add fuel to Section 702 opponents' arguments that the government routinely abuses these warrantless searches.

    "These abuses have been going on for years and despite recent changes in FBI practices, these systematic violations of Americans' privacy require congressional action," US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said in a statement. "If Section 702 is to be reauthorized, there must be statutory reforms to ensure that the checks and balances are in place to put an end to these abuses."

    The court opinion details FBI queries run on thousands of individuals between 2020 and early 2021. This includes 133 people arrested during the George Floyd protests and more than 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign.

    In the latter, "the analyst who ran the query advised that the campaign was a target of foreign influence, but NSD determined that only eight identifiers used in the query had sufficient ties to foreign influence activities to comply with the querying standard," the opinion says, referring to the Justice Department's National Security Division (NSD). In other words, there wasn't a strong enough foreign link to fully justify the communications search.

    For the Black Lives Matter protests, the division determined that the FBI queries "were not reasonably likely to retrieve foreign intelligence information or evidence of a crime." Again, an overreach of foreign surveillance powers.

    Additional "significant violations of the querying standard" occurred in searched related to the January 6, 2021 breach of the US Capitol, domestic drug and gang investigations, and domestic terrorism probes, according to the court. It's said that more than 23,000 queries were run on people suspected of storming the Capitol.

    While the FBI has said it has implemented several changes to prevent Section 702 abuse, including better query training and stricter approval requirements for some "sensitive" searches, like those involving American elected officials and journalists, Section 702 opponents argue that the spying on US citizens won't stop unless Congress enacts FISA report.

    "Even with the long history of FBI misuse of FISA 702, these latest revelations should set off alarm bells across Congress," Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Security and Surveillance Project, said in a statement.

    "The systemic misuse of this warrantless surveillance tool has made FISA 702 as toxic as COINTELPRO and the FBI abuses of the Hoover years," he added. "Absent a full overhaul of Section 702 and related surveillance powers, Congress should not allow the law to be extended past this year."


    Source: The Register
    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

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    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    I'm not defending anything, but one thing to keep in mind (When did I become a defender of the FBI) I know it wasn't when James Comey undermined Hilary Clinton (when did I become a defender of Hilary Clinton) I know it wasn't when the right began its hysterical attempts to 'get' her.

    In any case, the numbers clearly show that what is happening is that 'generic' 'sniffers' are used to gather data that are then 'washed' to determine relevance and then the legalities of such are considered. Of course, I'm sure missteps happen, some accidental, some deliberate. Up until recently, I detested the FBI...omigod, what is happening to me.

    whew, I know what it is: TDS
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    Senior Member Fred Steeves's Avatar
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    Congress should not allow the law to be extended past this year.
    But they will, it's part of the big three, all consuming obsessions:

    Russia Russia Russia - China China China - National Security National Security National Security.
    The unexamined life is not worth living.

    Socrates

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    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    The obvious problem is how one determines what isn't, "Russia, Russia, Russia" - "China China China - or "National Security National Security National Security"

    In truth, I never really cared if 'they' blew up the whole f*cking world until I became responsible for the safety of my daughter.

    I'm sure you realize that the U.S. DOESN'T lead the world in cyber intelligence techniques.
    Last edited by Emil El Zapato, 23rd May 2023 at 13:29.
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    Quote Originally posted by Chuckie View Post
    I'm sure you realize that the U.S. DOESN'T lead the world in cyber intelligence techniques.
    If you're talking about the US government, then not in developing them, no. They have private corporations both in the US and in Israel doing that for them.
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    Quote Originally posted by Fred Steeves View Post
    But they will, it's part of the big three, all consuming obsessions:

    Russia Russia Russia - China China China - National Security National Security National Security.
    "Russia, Russia, Russia" and "China, China, China," can be both true and untrue, in a sense. Russia manipulating Red Maga, to weaken the US, through social media, is a fact. But that fact has been intentionally tailored to suit the needs of Team Blue (who engage, like Team Red in worse games and mind fuckery in foreign nations)

    Team Blue's obsession with the subject qualifies as propaganda as its decontextualized.

    Russia would be acting a completely stupid way if they weren't operating covertly in their own interests. Are they supposed to be the only nation on earth who wouldn't do this, given half a chance. Hell no.

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    Senior Member Fred Steeves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Octopus Garden View Post
    "Russia, Russia, Russia" and "China, China, China," can be both true and untrue, in a sense. Russia manipulating Red Maga, to weaken the US, through social media, is a fact. But that fact has been intentionally tailored to suit the needs of Team Blue (who engage, like Team Red in worse games and mind fuckery in foreign nations)

    Team Blue's obsession with the subject qualifies as propaganda as its decontextualized.
    I'm with your overall point OG, games and fuckery are the big game in town here, just that I've yet to see any real evidence pointing to Russia having had some sort of major social media influence in the US.

    Quote Originally posted by Octopus Garden View Post
    Russia would be acting a completely stupid way if they weren't operating covertly in their own interests. Are they supposed to be the only nation on earth who wouldn't do this, given half a chance. Hell no.
    Well, of course the Russians have their hat in the ring in the world of international espionage, but from everything I'm seeing of both them and China, they're interests don't lie in running around the world interfering with the inner workings of other sovereign nations. It's not their style, it's not even in their heritage beyond immediate spheres of influence.
    The unexamined life is not worth living.

    Socrates

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    The FBI is led by some bad people.

    The head of this fish has entered the putrefaction phase.

    "To learn who rules over you simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize" -- Voltaire

    "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."-- Eleanor Roosevelt

    "Misery loves company. Wisdom has to look for it." -- Anonymous

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