Tuesday, March 13, 2007

New US Computer Forensic Institute. New US Computer Forensic Institute. Quincy writes "The DHS and Secret Service are setting up a new computer forensic institute in Alabama. Set to open in mid-2008, the new National Computer Forensic Institute will be able to train over 900 law enforcement officers per year. 'It will initially be staffed by 18 Secret Service agents and will feature classrooms, a forensic laboratory, an evidence vault, and server rooms. Courses will be offered in the investigation of electronic crimes, network intrusion investigation, and computer forensics... [T]he Secret Service says that it will help to bring judges and prosecutors up to speed as well.'" Maybe over time we'll see fewer botches of justice like those in the news recently [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 4:33:22 PM

Action Alert: Reform the PATRIOT Act and Stop the Abuse of Surveillance Powers! Action Alert: Reform the PATRIOT Act and Stop the Abuse of Surveillance Powers! The FBI has blatantly abused a key PATRIOT Act provision and knowingly violated the law to spy on Americans' telephone, Internet, and other personal records, as documented in a report recently released by the Justice Department. Congress must rein in this egregious behavior, but it can't stop there -- the Bush Administration's unprecedented pattern of disregarding the law stretches far beyond the examples in this report. Tell Congress to defend your privacy now. Before PATRIOT, the FBI could use so-called National Security Letters only for securing the records of suspected terrorists or spies. But under PATRIOT the FBI can use them to get private records about anybody without any court approval as long as it believes the information could be relevant to an authorized terrorism or espionage investigation. According to the Justice Department's Inspector General, the FBI's misuse of its authority included issuing NSLs to spy on people who weren't the subject of any existing investigation whatsoever. The FBI also lied to Congress and underreported its use of NSLs by many thousands. Worse still, the FBI has ignored its own lawyers' advice and intentionally evaded PATRIOT's thin bounds, improperly requesting and obtaining personal records through so-called "exigent letters" that Congress never authorized. That's only a sampling of the horror story painted by the report, and, had Congress not ordered the Inspector General to review the FBI's activities last year, these abuses might have never been revealed. From the moment PATRIOT was passed, we said the NSL power was ripe for abuse and unconstitutional, and it's clearer than ever that Congress should repeal PATRIOT's expansion of NSL powers and reform the PATRIOT Act as a whole. Moreover, Congress must broadly investigate the Administration's use of surveillance powers, including the NSA's massive and illegal domestic spying program. Congress and the American public have been kept in the dark about such clear violations of the law and Americans' privacy for far too long. Immediate and thorough oversight hearings are necessary to uncover the truth and hold the Administration accountable. Take action now. [EFF: Deep Links] 4:28:38 PM

FBI Data Demands Lack Adequate Checks and Balances. FBI Data Demands Lack Adequate Checks and Balances. A report by the Department of Justice Inspector General finds numerous failures of internal processes for FBI issuance of so-called National Security Letters, which are used to compel disclosure of sensitive financial, credit and communications records. The rules limiting the circumstances under which NSLs can be issued were weakened by the PATRIOT Act. Tighter internal controls announced by DOJ and FBI in response to the IG report, while welcome, will not cure the NSLs' fundamental flaw: giving FBI agents power to compel disclosure of private information without judicial approval. [Center for Democracy and Technology] 4:08:45 PM

CDT Opposes Bill Expanding Pentagon Domestic Data Mining. CDT Opposes Bill Expanding Pentagon Domestic Data Mining. CDT and other civil liberties groups are urging Congress to reject legislation that would exempt the Department of Defense from a key provision of the Privacy Act. The little-noticed amendment, already included in the Senate version of the Intelligence Authorization Act, would permit government agencies to disclose information on US citizens to the Defense Department. Such language could pave the way for entire databases of information to be transferred to the Defense Department without a clear purpose -- in turn opening the door to greater data mining by military agencies. [Center for Democracy and Technology] 4:07:21 PM

CDT Calls for Reform of National Security Letters. CDT Calls for Reform of National Security Letters. CDT is calling on Congress to require judicial approval of FBI efforts to access the sensitive records of US citizens. Recent revelations regarding violations in the use of so-called "national security letters" have shown that no matter how many internal controls the FBI adopts, self-certification in not sufficient when the government is obtaining the sensitive financial and communications records of citizens. CDT believes Congress should reform the law and adopt a reasonable system of judicial checks and balances. [Center for Democracy and Technology] 4:04:02 PM

© Copyright 2007 Paul Hardwick. Last update: 3/18/07; 6:10:11 PM.