FBI screwed up, spied on entire email network

[intaglio]

from "The Register" http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/18/fbi_email_surveillance/

Colour me very unsurprised that, somehow, the FBI was able do do this and that the intelligence "official" quoted was so off hand about it; it's only privacy, after all.

The FBI on Friday revealed that human error led to surveillance of an entire email network back in 2006, rather than the single email address approved by the secretive court which approves domestic wiretaps and other forms of e-surveillance.

/snip

The ISP involved allegedly misinterpreted a warrant for one email address to be a warrant for - ahem - the entire network. This kind of mass negligence is really only the flip-side of a surveillance system that allows for almost immediate mass surveillance by the government and its cronies in the telecommunications industry.

/snip

One intelligence official shrugged it off. "It's inevitable that these things will happen. It's not weekly, but it's common." This is the most egregious case yet revealed of what is known as "overproduction" - spook-speak for when a third party, for some reason, gives more information than requested.

[havocmom]

1. The real screw up was cheney and bush not knowing WH emails are on servers too

and not just their office computers. If the telecoms don't get their immunity and get their asses (rightfully) sued, they probably have some emails to leak to the press.

bush isn't worried about terrasits at all. He probably got the ransom note from the telecoms:
If you don't wanna see the emails in the NY Times, we skate, K puppet-boy?

[indepat]

3. What a perfect squelch

[havocmom]

4. You want to make a lot of people tow the line, you involve them all in the crime

Old ploy.

[indepat]

5. This ploy must be a perfectly executed art-form, producing criminals at an unfathomable

rate and number, all jumping through their individual and collective assholes just to hop aboard.

[enki23]

2. what the fuck? so it went something like "gosh this guy gets lots of emails.... oops."

oh well. let's go ahead and search them all anyway. you know, since we're already here...