Angry U.S. Democrats threaten to limit FBI anti-terror powers

[helderheid]

Beth Gorham, Canadian Press
Published: Friday, March 09, 2007
Article tools

WASHINGTON (CP) - Furious U.S. Democrats threatened Friday to limit the FBI's anti-terror powers after an audit uncovered major problems with how agents used the Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information like credit reports.

The audit found the FBI misused, sometimes illegally, so-called security letters that require companies to provide highly personal records about their customers without a judge's approval.

For three years, the agency has been grossly underestimating to Congress how often they make banks, telephone companies and others turn over the data on people living in the United States.

Agents have also been demanding information in non-emergency situations and without proper authorization.

MORE >>>

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=7aa1ab67-0c37-44d8-84ae-e67cabdc8db4&k=42220

[Parche]

1. Patriot Act

Now they are finding out what they 'didnt' read in the actual bill that they signed......

I had an issue with the ignorant Patriot Act a month ago, I tried to get a cashiers check
from a bank I normally dont go thru, and they denied and said it was because of the
patriot act.....................

[seafan]

2. I'll say it again.... AG Gonzales and now, FBI Dir. Mueller need to be removed from power.

And the massive hemorrhaging of our privacy rights continues...


Angry U.S. Democrats threaten to limit FBI anti-terror powers

Beth Gorham, Canadian Press
Published: Friday, March 09, 2007

WASHINGTON (CP) - Furious U.S. Democrats threatened Friday to limit the FBI's anti-terror powers after an audit uncovered major problems with how agents used the Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information like credit reports.
The audit found the FBI misused, sometimes illegally, so-called security letters that require companies to provide highly personal records about their customers without a judge's approval.
For three years, the agency has been grossly underestimating to Congress how often they make banks, telephone companies and others turn over the data on people living in the United States.

Agents have also been demanding information in non-emergency situations and without proper authorization.

.....

"The attorney general and the FBI are part of the problem and they cannot be trusted to be part of the solution," he (Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union) said.

The report, said Senator Dick Durbin, "confirms the American people's worst fears about the Patriot Act."
"My confidence is shaken, both in the attorney general and the director of the FBI," he said.
"We have repeatedly, on a bipartisan basis, said to this administration: 'Don't go too far. Don't violate the privacy of America's innocent people in an effort to keep us safe.' Now we have clear evidence that was done."

The use of security letters or administrative subpoenas has mushroomed since Sept. 11.
In 2000, the FBI issued about 8,500 requests. By 2003, it was 39,000, 56,000 in 2004 and 47,000 in 2005.
But the agency told Congress that over a two-year period in 2003 and 2004 agents issues just 9,254 letters.

The audit, required by Congress, found 26 possible violations, including making improper requests and using letters signed by officials who didn't have the authority to do it.
In some cases, the FBI obtained all sorts of information about people that the letters didn't permit to be released.