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US justice department to get new spy powers
By Our Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, March 25: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday
said the US Justice Department is acquiring new spy powers that will allow
the department to force banks , internet service providers (ISPs),
telephone companies, and credit card agencies to turn over their customers'
records without any judicial approval.
In a press statement it said: "Without judicial oversight, there is simply
no assurance that the Attorney General is using this authority in keeping
with democratic principles and constitutional rights," said Jameel Jaffer,
an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and
Liberty Programme.
Information about the government's surveillance powers was obtained through
a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed jointly with the
Electronic Privacy Information Centre and the American Booksellers
Foundation for Free Expression and the Freedom to Read Foundation.
According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information
Actlawsuit, the government employs "National Security Letters" - signed by
Attorney General Ashcroft or a delegate and with no judicial approval - to
"compel the production of a substantial amount of relevant information".
The government can use the power to obtain records about people living in
the United States, including American citizens, without probable cause that
the person has committed any crime.
Entities that are forced to turn over records are prohibited from
disclosing to their customers - or to anyone else - that the FBI has
demanded the records.
The American Civil Liberties Union had always been critical of the letters
because they do not require judicial review. However, said Jaffer, under
the Patriot Act, "the letters have become a far more invasive and nefarious
tool".
Before the Patriot Act, Jaffer explained, National Security Letters could
be issued only against people who were reasonably suspected of espionage.
The Patriot Act allows the attorney general to issue National Security
Letters even against people who are not suspected of criminal activity or
of acting on behalf of a foreign power.
The government had refused to say how extensively it was using its
authority to issue the letters. But Jaffer said that the length of the
blacked-out lists of National Security Letters suggested that the
government was using the power more extensively than other surveillance
powers under the Patriot Act that required court approval.
The American Civil Liberties Union had created a special web feature with
samples of the blacked-out documents and government memos describing the
new powers.
Other recently obtained documents confirmed that the FBI was conducting
wiretaps and secret searches in criminal investigations without complying
with the usual probable cause requirements; the government was using an
extraordinarily broad surveillance provision that could be used to force
libraries and bookstores to report on their patrons' and customers' reading
habits; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was aggressively using
pen registers and trap-and-trace devices that allowed them to track phone
calls and emails; the government had planned to use its new surveillance
powers not only against suspected terrorists but also against ordinary
Americans and permanent residents.
http://www.dawn.com/2003/03/26/top12.htm
