FBI Investigated 3,501 People Without Warrants

[ProSense]

Updated: 08:44 AM EDT

FBI Investigated 3,501 People Without Warrants

Received Details From Banks, Credit Card, Telephone and Internet Companies

By MARK SHERMAN, AP

WASHINGTON (April 29) - The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday.

It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a National Security Letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without a judge's approval or a grand jury subpoena.

Friday's disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act, the administration's sweeping anti-terror law.

The FBI delivered a total of 9,254 NSLs relating to 3,501 people in 2005, according to a report submitted late Friday to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate. In some cases, the bureau demanded information about one person from several companies.

more...

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060428191709990025

[ProSense]

1. DOJ Seeks to Dismiss Domestic Spying Suit

DOJ Seeks to Dismiss Domestic Spying Suit

By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer
Sat Apr 29, 9:10 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - The Justice Department said Friday it was moving to dismiss a federal lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's secretive domestic wiretapping program.

The lawsuit, brought by the Internet privacy group, Electronic Frontier Foundation, does not include the government.

Instead, it names AT&T, which the San Francisco-based group accuses of colluding with the National Security Agency to make communications on AT&T networks available to the spy agency without warrants.

The government, in a filing here late Friday, said the lawsuit threatens to expose government and military secrets and therefore should be tossed. The administration added that its bid to intervene in the case should not be viewed as a concession that the allegations are true.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060429/ap_on_re_us/domestic_spying_lawsuit_4

[bluem]

4. I am really getting tired

of all of this being okay because asking for any justification will give the terrorists secret information. It is truly disgusting and blanantly wrong...

[stellanoir]

2. It gives one a warm and fuzzy feeling

doesn't it?

[JDPriestly]

3. This is horrifying! Absolutely horrifying!

This is worse than the tea taxes in pre-Revolutionary America. Who do they think they are. Can't they read the 4th Amendment?