FBI Searched the Data of Millions of Americans Without Warrants

[TheProle]

Source: Bloomberg

The FBI searched emails, texts and other electronic communications of as many as 3.4 million U.S. residents without a warrant over a year, the nation’s top spy chief said in a report.

The “queries” were made between December 2020 and November 2021 by Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel as they looked for signs of threats and terrorists within electronic data legally collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to an annual transparency report issued Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The surge came as the FBI made a push to stop hacking attacks.

The American Civil Liberties Union called it an invasion of privacy “on an enormous scale.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-29/fbi-searched-the-data-of-millions-of-americans-without-warrants

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[pecosbob]

1. And yet they had no clue 1/6 was happening. WE had popcorn ready.

[Hassler]

3. +1000

[twodogsbarking]

2. Well.

[Pinback]

4. "Zoom call Tuesday at 9?"

is code for “Explosives have been placed at the base of the Sears Tower. Let’s do this!”

WTAF? The authorities should NOT be able to suck up all communications in a nationwide dragnet without a warrant!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

12. Haven't you seen Enemy of the State?

You're thinking it's all Hollywood? Think again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Rock_Mountain_Complex

This station is closed now but officially was operated as an NSA listening station and designated a Naval Installation. A Navy base in the West Virginia mountains... sure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Grove_Station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes#Domestic_espionage_sharing_controversy

In recent years, documents of the FVEY have shown that they are intentionally spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the advocacy group Liberty, claimed that the FVEY alliance increases the ability of member states to "subcontract their dirty work" to each other. The former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the FVEY as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn't answer to the laws of its own countries"

The worldwide picture is that terrorists can be anywhere. NSA and CIA are free to spy on the world but domestically it's the FBI that is supposed to look at US citizens and get warrants as required. AFAIK the FBI has the kind of oversight to support that activity. However, does a every group and work unit have oversight with similar control?

[sl8]

17. That Wikipedia article says that the Sugar Grove NSA station is still in operation.

Only the Navy facility closed.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

21. Yeah maybe who knows.

When they say that a hammer costs $500, what do they mean by "closed"?
I don't really trust many of those folks.

[Pinback]

18. Answers to your first two questions, in order:

1. Yes.
2. No.

Thanks for the links.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

22. You're welcome.

As the Carla Dean character implied, this activity needs to be monitored and the monitors need to be monitored... etc...
IMO the whole point was trust and at this time I don't trust many of those folks.

[hueymahl]

5. So basically everything Snowden warned us about?

[speak easy]

8. You have no problem with snooping on every communication, down to the last byte,

outside the U.S. ?

[hueymahl]

14. Umm, no

I do have a problem with that if it involves us citizens. Why do you ask?

[speak easy]

15. You can't expect the rest of the world to care.

Im OK with it, as long as it does not happen to me.

Meanwhile, a third of the country does not give a flying about Jan 6. The U.S has as many enemies domestic as foreign these days.

[hueymahl]

19. It's a complicated topic

I cheer Apple for maintaining security of the iphone and encryption. I do NOT fall into the camp that says it doesn't matter "if you have nothing to hide". That is total BS.

BUT, having the NSA keep track of threats to the US? Right or wrong, I put the dividing line between citizens and non-citizens.

[orangecrush]

6. How many of those

Were January 6th insurrectionists?

[TheProle]

9. Highly doubtful it was 3.4 million...

[LudwigPastorius]

7. The gift from George W. Bush that just keeps on giving...er...taking.

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Security_Branch_Analysis_Center

[NullTuples]

10. Does "query" mean the same as it does with databases?

Because for a database query to be done, the data has to already exist somewhere being stored.

And that's an interesting thought that may be worse than them requesting the data on 3.4 million people out of the larger set.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

13. Short answer, yes.

See post #12.

[sakabatou]

11. I am not surprised by this.

[FakeNoose]

16. There was only one real threat, and he was living in the White House

He would have been easy to spot because he was constantly logged onto Twitter from his unsecure cellphone.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

23. Not the only one, he was just the most serious threat.

He is gone for now and we need to work hard to ensure he and any like him remain gone for good.

The whole metadata and domestic data collection thing down to local PD making illegal use of stingray type equipment is all bothersome.

[summer_in_TX]

20. Some of his co-conspirators were perfectly prepared to

wreak havoc without El Presidente's leading. Stuart Rhodes was none too sure Trump would follow through but wanted to Proud Boys to be prepared to do what he thought needed to be done even if he didn't.

[Joinfortmill]

24. Always been a fan of ACLU, but they currently have their own PR issues.

[twodogsbarking]

25. I have always believed they did this shit.

[msfiddlestix]

26. I suppose reporting on something that's being going on since 1947/48 periodically, has a purpose.

in one form another, whether it's electronic, personal mail, bank and other financial accounts, and of course recorded (tapped) telephone calls has been going for nearly a century in one form or another by the government.

we, the collective unwashed masses have been screaming and yelling about this since forever. I among them.

and many folks here too. I haven't been speaking out on it since tfg's reign of terror along with cult following though, which is an interesting psychological phenom.

I guess I'm feeling like, ok spies, you've been using these tools at your disposal for nearly a century ostensibly for our "national security" reasons. But you let tfg take power inviting Putin as an ally. And you're not providing DOJ with the stuff they need to put these asshole traitors away for life.

Something to investigate, me thinks.

Who are these people in our national security institutions we never hear or see.

infiltrated cast of characters I would suggest.

As Control would put it in Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy: paraphrasing, "There's a Rotten Apple, Jim Boy, at the very tip top of the Circus. And we've got to get rid of it."

[Farmer-Rick]

28. Bunch of yahoos

They let JFK, MLK and Bobby die, their feckless leader wrote a letter bad mouthing a presidential candidate ensuring a psycho became president, they failed to prevent a huge terrorist attack on 9/11.....they failed to stop an obvious insurrection.

Are we sure the FBI works for the US and not Russia and Putin?

They certainly don't act like America's security is important.