Attorneys Can See Classified Info in Coffee Table Spy Suit: Via Threat Level.

A federal judge in Washington has ordered the government to grant security clearances to lawyers on both sides of a lawsuit claiming illegal spying against a DEA agent, in a ruling that challenges the government’s long-held claim that the executive branch alone has the authority to determine who can access classified material.

The attorneys in the case, which was noted by Secrecy News, need the security clearances to obtain classified knowledge held by their clients so they can adequately argue the lawsuit, the judge said, in an August 26 ruling supported by attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit, but bitterly opposed by the government.

On Thursday, a federal appeals court ordered an emergency stay of the order pending an appeal by the Justice Department. [ Read more ... ]

M.D. Fla.: DEA violated curtilage to get consent found involuntary: Via FourthAmendment.com.

M.D. Fla. suppresses a knock-and-talk where the police entered defendant's fenced off property to knock at the door and seek consent in violation of his expectation of privacy shown under Dunn. Under the circumstances of this case, the defendant's consent was not voluntary after the knock-and-talk. United States v. Hambelton, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25139 (N.D. Fla. March 18, 2009): [ Read more ... ]

McKesson Dinged in Online Pharma Flap, 'Fueled' Addiction - Via Threat Level:

Wondering where those illegal online pharmacies get their dope?

According to the Justice Department, the answer is McKesson Corp., North America's largest pharmaceutical distributor based in San Francisco.

In a deal with six U.S. attorneys, McKesson agreed to pay $13 million to settle allegations it failed to report to the Drug Enforcement Agency "suspicious sales" of controlled substances to pharmacies, the Justice Department said Friday. Those pharmacies, the Justice Department said, filled orders from illegal, online pharmacies that doled out hardcore prescription medications without a doctor's recommendation. [ Read more ... ]

Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry - New York Times - Via New York Times :

WASHINGTON — For months, the Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program.

But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime.

The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure. [ Read more ... ]

More Details Emerge On Domestic Spying Programs - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:

The feed brings us this NYTimes story giving new details on the telecom carriers' cooperation with secret NSA (and other) domestic spying programs. One revelation is that the Drug Enforcement Agency has been running a program since the 1990s to collect the phone records of calls from US citizens to Latin America in order to catch narcotics traffickers. [ Read more ... ]

PGP Creator Defends Hushmail: Phil Zimmermann, the coder who created the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encryption scheme in 1991, defended encrypted online webmail company Hushmail's turning over of the unscrambled emails to the government when give a court order, arguing it is not reasonable to expect that online encrypted email storage is as safe as using encryption software on one's own computer.

Zimmermann,'who sits'on Hushmail's advisory'board,'spoke to THREAT LEVEL after we published a piece contrasting the site's promises that it had no access to the contents of customers' encrypted emails stored on their servers with a court case showing that the Canadian company turned over 12 CDs of readable emails to U.S. authorities.

Zimmermann is also the brains behind Zfone, software that'works with VOIP services to make encrypted online phone calls possible.

'If your threat model includes the government coming in with all of force of the government and compelling service provider to do things it wants them to do, then there are ways to obtain the plaintext of an email ,' Zimmermann said in a phone interview. 'Just because encryption is involved, that doesn't give you a talisman against a prosecutor. They can compel a service provider to cooperate.' [ Read more ... ]

Hushmail Passing PGP Keys to the US Government: "teknopurge writes 'Apparently Hushmail has been providing information to law enforcement behind the backs of their clients. Billed as secure email because of their use of PGP, Hushmail has been turning over private keys of users to the authorities on request. [ Read more ... ]

NPR : Inside the Terrorist Screening Center: The Terrorist Watch List that was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is the responsibility of the Terrorist Screening Center. The Center, run by the FBI, compiles the watch list and tracks suspected terrorists in the United States. Dina Temple-Raston is the first journalist ever allowed inside the center. [ Read more ... ]

Appeals Court Clarifies: Government Spyware Not Protected in Ruling: [ Read more ... ]