Do you know what a national security letter is? National security letters outlined in the USA Patriot Act, are administrative subpoenas. These letters allow the FBI to force telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and other businesses to turn over highly personal records about their customers without a judge’s approval.
This also includes forcing librarians to turn over the records they have about the books you checked out from the library and librarians are against it. They are so much against this act the ALA has published on it’s site the Resolution on the Use and Abuse of National Security Letters/On the Need for Legislative Reforms to Assure the Right to Read Free of Government Surveillance, along with other Patriot Act Resources.
Today more FBI privacy violations have been confirmed. No big surprise here. The Associated Press is reporting:
Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mueller raised the issue of the FBI’s controversial use of so-called national security letters in reference to an upcoming report on the topic by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year’s audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.
Many people will respond by saying they have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, so what is the big deal. Due process, privacy and Constitutional rights are the big deal. It is a big part of what democracy is all about. And that piece of sh*t Bush does not care about your rights, democracy, or the Constitution.
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