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+--- Thread: Associated Press phone records seized (/showthread.php?tid=152546)
Associated Press phone records seized - swampy - 05-13-2013
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/10055318/US-Justice-Department-secretly-seizes-Associated-Press-phone-records.html
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Lemon Drop - 05-13-2013
Good thing we got the Nixon jokes out of the way earlier today.
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - cbelt3 - 05-13-2013
Legally ? With a judge and all ?
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Lemon Drop - 05-14-2013
unknown
"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.”
It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/govt-secretly-obtained-wide-ap-phone-records-in-probe.php
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Black - 05-14-2013
The National Security Agency "has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data" provided by AT&T, Verizon Communications and BellSouth Corporation, Leslie Cauley first reported May 10, 2006, in USA Today.
President George W. Bush "lied" when he said that NSA's "spying wasn't a domestic program," A. Alexander, wrote May 11, 2006, in The Progressive Daily Beacon.
The NSA program "reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews," Cauley wrote.
"It is exactly a domestic spy program and what's more AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon have been assisting the Bush government in creating what is being described as, '[T]he largest database ever assembled in the world,' and the goal is 'to create a database of every call ever made' within America's borders," Alexander wrote.
While President Bush justified NSA's domestic phone monitoring as part of a necessary step after 9/11, but the phone monitoring was happening prior to 9/11. Seven months prior to 9/11, the NSA had asked AT&T to set up a domestic call monitoring site. [1] "The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages." [2]
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_W._Bush%27s_phone_records_spying
What I want to know is-- what happened to this database? A victim of the sequester? It should have provided all necessary info, no?
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Mac-A-Matic - 05-14-2013
Five years into Obama's promised Hope and Change and things are still the same...
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Lemon Drop - 05-14-2013
Somehow this AP thing doesn't strike me as Patriot Act'ish kind of stuff, just plain old abuse of power and interference with freedom of the press. The government can investigate itself over leaks, but taking it outside to the press and secretly trying to identify their confidential sources is a whole different story.
Unless Justice has some explanation for what they've done which they are keeping secret, I think it's so far the worst thing that has come out of this administration.
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Black - 05-14-2013
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - Lemon Drop - 05-14-2013
UPDATE: 8 p.m. -- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, in a statement, said:
Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP. We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department. Any questions about an ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice.
So who's in line to replace Holder? I really like my former governor, Christine Gregoire, I think she'd be great if she's up for it.
Re: Associated Press phone records seized - cbelt3 - 05-14-2013
The concept of an 'independent' Department of Justice is not factually true. The DOJ reports to the Attorney General, who is a cabinet officer under the President. There have been rules established that create a sort of 'firewall' between the AG and the DOJ and the President, but little interference blips happen all the time (in all Presidencies).
Buck Passing is endemic in a poorly run Executive branch. This administration is looking more and more like a frat house operation like GWB's.