Obama Administration Secretly Spied on the Associated Press

Activist Post

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama Administration have been spying on the Associated Press without their knowledge.

The establishment news service is typically viewed as a repeater of officialdom, so it came as a bit of a shock to the organization who called it a "massive and unprecedented intrusion."

AP reports:

The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. 

The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.

In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.

The Associated Press recently received a letter from the Department of Justice informing them of the 2012 seizure of phone records. The AP points out that they're not sure if the phones were illegally wiretapped or if the phone companies turned over the records at the government's request.

The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone conversations were monitored.

Still the CEO, Gary Pruitt, feels his organization was violated.
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt wrote in a response to Holder.

The AP writes that media companies are normally notified when the government wants phone records, and they usually comply.  But in this case the government waived the prior notification with cryptic reasoning that it may have "posed a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation":

News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption's wording, might "pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation."

In other words, it seems like the AP is saying "you could have just asked and we probably would have given you what you needed."  Yet, the government is just saying "we'll do what we want, thanks."

Regardless, the AP has not seen a signed warrant or subpoena from the government, indicating that the DOJ was illegally spying on a major news organization. It appears no one is exempt from Big Brother's overreaches.

Read other articles by Activist Post Here 
Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Be the Change! Share this using the tools below. Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.

TSA's Worst Nightmare Continues: Phil Mocek Now Suing for Civil Rights Violations

Dees Illustration

Keegan Hamilton
Seattle Weekly

Remember the case of Seattle's Phil Mocek, the guy who tried to pass through Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Albuquerque airport in November, 2009 without a valid ID? The 37-year-old software developer and political gadfly not only ended up missing his flight home, but was also slapped with a quartet of misdemeanor charges, all four of which were eventually dismissed in January after recordings proved that airport officials made false claims about Mocek's behavior during the incident. But Mocek's acquittal, it seems, isn't the end of his story. He's now planning to sue the City of Albuquerque, their Aviation Police, and, eventually, the TSA for alleged civil rights violations.

Reached by phone this morning, Mocek explains that while his arrest and trial raised awareness about the flimsy legal justification TSA cites to require passengers to show their ID and prevent audio and video recordings in the airport, his ultimate goal is to change the government's policy on the matters. A lawsuit, he believes, is the best means to that end.

"I was wronged in this situation," says Mocek, who is also active with Seattle's Cannabis Defense Coalition. "And if what has happened puts me in a position of getting a court to take a look at what the TSA is doing and possibly force them to change the way they do things, it would be irresponsible of me not to do so."

Read Full Article

Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Warrants Let Agents Enter Homes Without Owner Knowing

Dees Illustration

KOAT 7 News

A special type of government search warrant that allows authorities to search homes without informing the owner for months is becoming more common, Target 7 has learned.

Imagine someone walking through your neighborhood, coming into your home and rifling through your intimate belongings.“(They) search through your home, your dresser drawers, your computer files,” Peter Simonson, with ACLU New Mexico, said.These search warrants don’t involve knocking on doors or any type of warning at all. Delayed-notice search warrants, or "sneak-and-peek" warrants, allow federal agents to enter your home without telling you they’ve been there until months later.

The warrants have always been around, but their use has spiked since the revamped Patriot Act in 2005.

The number of delayed-notice search warrants spiked nationally from nearly 700 in fiscal year 2007 to close to 2,000 in 2009. 

Read Full Article

Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Amtrak Backs Schumer Proposal For “No Ride List”

TSA goons would oversee implementation of Soviet-style internal passport system for rail travel

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet

Following New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s call for a “no ride list” that would mimic the notoriously sweeping, oppressive and ineffective “no fly list,” Amtrak has publicly backed the idea, which would officially create a Soviet-style internal passport for American citizens and make the presence of TSA workers conducting grope downs at train stations ubiquitous.



Approving of Schumer’s proposal, Amtrak Spokesperson Cliff Cole released the following statement;

“Amtrak is committed to the safety and security of our passengers and remains a safe way to travel. All countermeasures add value in creating an overall security posture in protecting a rail system that operates in an open environment. The creation of a “do not ride” list is no exception. It would, however, have to be developed in close coordination with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and implemented in a way that respects civil rights and allows for the rapid flow of persons and trains, necessary for effective mass transit. “

Popular Gaming Device Can be Used to Spy on You - Kinect is in Kontrol (VIDEO)

Youtube - JasonJustice911
Jason Bermas first Iphone video blog about the Microsoft Kinect device. Check me out over atwww.Facebook.com/JasonBermas

If you would like to donate towards my next WebTv/Radio project "Punk Rock Politics" via PayPal you can do so at jasoniswinning@yahoo.com

Buy 1 Get 2 Free at Botanic Choice Buy 1 Bottle and Get 2 FREE (select items), plus Free Shipping on $25+ Expires 12/31/2010

Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)

Live Superfoods It is time to Wake Up! You too, can join the "Global Political Awakening"!

Print this page

Government reports violations of limits on spying aimed at U.S. citizens

Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post

The federal government has repeatedly violated legal limits governing the surveillance of U.S. citizens, according to previously secret internal documents obtained through a court battle by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In releasing 900 pages of documents, U.S. government agencies refused to say how many Americans’ telephone, e-mail or other communications have been intercepted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – or FISA – Amendments Act of 2008, or to discuss any specific abuses, the ACLU said. Most of the documents were heavily redacted.

However, semiannual internal oversight reports by the offices of the attorney general and director of national intelligence identify ongoing breaches of legal requirements that limit when Americans are targeted and minimize the amount of data collected.

The documents note that although oversight teams did not find evidence of “intentional or willful attempts to violate or circumvent the law . . . certain types of compliance incidents continue to occur,” as a March 2009 report stated.

Read Full Article

food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)

Live Superfoods It is time to Wake Up! You too, can join the "Global Political Awakening"!

Print this page

The Structure of Our Oppression

RELATED ARTICLES:
SPLC, DHS, Community Officials Team Up to Attack Patriot Groups

Independence Criminalized: The Great Wall of Bureaucracy Comes to America

Drone Surveillance Program Targeting Americans?

Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)

Live Superfoods It is time to Wake Up! You too, can join the "Global Political Awakening"!

Print this page