The Latest Breaches Of Your Privacy By The Bush Administration

Posted Wednesday, March 5, 2008

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  • The Latest Breaches Of Your Privacy By The Bush Administration

Think the Bush administration has stopped spying on Americans? Well, you�re wrong. [Washington Post]

FBI director Robert Mueller told Congress yesterday that �the FBI improperly used national security letters in 2006 to obtain personal data on Americans during terror and spy investigations.�

A reminder: National Security Letters are letters sent by the FBI, without a warrant, to demand �personal data on people from banks, telephone and Internet providers and credit bureaus without official authorization.�

They�re supposed to only be used in an emergency, but an independent audit by the inspector general found that they�d been used carelessly and in non-emergency circumstances at least from 2003-2005. [Washington Post]

Mueller claims the practice has stopped, citing reforms passed in 2007, but there�s reason to be skeptical.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VM) says, â��Everybody wants to stop terrorists. But we also, though, as Americans, we believe in our privacy rights and we want those protected… There has to be a better chain of command for this. You cannot just have an FBI agent who decides heâ��d like to obtain Americansâ�� records, bank records or anything else and do it just because they want to.â��

Another Department of Justice inspector general report is due in the next week, which will reveal whether the abuse has continued despite the reforms. Stay tuned! [Raw Story]

The Bush administration had better butt out of our newsfeed.

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