WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
FBI improperly obtained credit reports and other information on individuals through errors in using its power to investigate terrorism or espionage suspects, the Washington Post reported, citing a U.S. Justice Department audit.
The congressionally mandated audit found that in 2005 alone, the FBI issued more than 19,000 national security letters amounting to 47,000 separate requests for information, the Post said.
In their sampling of 293 letters, investigators found that 22 errors were possible violations of department rules and some were potential violations of law, the Post reported, citing officials with access to the audit.
Yeah no need to worry about abuse, misuse...or appropriate oversight apparently...
I'm still trying to figure out who exactly fucked up on this one. That story on CNN (as it's written right now) appears to say that at least some of the errors were made by the agencies that actually gave the information to the FBI:
The FBI identified 26 potential violations in other cases in the audit, which was limited to 77 case files in four FBI field offices, the Post said. It said officials believe the 48 known problems may be the tip of the iceberg in a "shoddy" internal oversight system, but that the problems were not deliberate.
In at least two cases cited by the newspaper, the investigators found that the FBI obtained full credit reports whereas the security letters could only be used to obtain summary information.
In other cases, telephone companies, banks or Internet providers responded with detailed personal information about customers that the letters do not permit to be released, the article said.
Boogahz wrote:I'm still trying to figure out who exactly fucked up on this one. That story on CNN (as it's written right now) appears to say that at least some of the errors were made by the agencies that actually gave the information to the FBI:
The FBI identified 26 potential violations in other cases in the audit, which was limited to 77 case files in four FBI field offices, the Post said. It said officials believe the 48 known problems may be the tip of the iceberg in a "shoddy" internal oversight system, but that the problems were not deliberate.
In at least two cases cited by the newspaper, the investigators found that the FBI obtained full credit reports whereas the security letters could only be used to obtain summary information.
In other cases, telephone companies, banks or Internet providers responded with detailed personal information about customers that the letters do not permit to be released, the article said.
I'm sure both the FBI and the responding companies are at fault...Which is a really good reason this shouldn't be done w/o a search warrant...And the security of the info once it is released to the FBI is a real worry too...I can just see a future incident similar to the recent Veteran's Affairs information release with all this info...Talk about rampant Identity theft...
Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible violations in its use of the national security letters, including failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.
Of the violations, 22 were caused by FBI errors, while the other four were the result of mistakes made by the firms that received the letters.
The FBI also used so-called "exigent letters," signed by officials at FBI headquarters who were not authorized to sign national security letters, to obtain information. In at least 700 cases, these exigent letters were sent to three telephone companies to get toll billing records and subscriber information.
"In many cases, there was no pending investigation associated with the request at the time the exigent letters were sent," the audit concluded.
The letters inaccurately said the FBI had requested subpoenas for the information requested — "when, in fact, it had not," the audit found.
We can trust the FBI! Except like most bureaucracies we cannot trust them.
Aslanna wrote:"If you got nothing to hide you got nothing to worry about. The government is here to help you, but you must watch out for the companies that give the government your personal information."
Fixed...based on the story as it was written this morning. CNN is good about updating information on a story as it changes, but that can make it a pain to quote from when they change very important points. Personally, I don't think this "system" works at all.
They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.
Oh wow, thanks fellas, next time a guy commits a murder we'll just let him off scot free as long as he apologises and vows to prevent himself from killing someone else.
