blog.kennypearce.net

Telecoms Deny Turning Call Records Over to NSA; FBI Spies on ABC News

As Lauren mentioned in the comments to my previous NSA wiretapping post, Verizon, along with BellSouth, has officially denied sharing call records with the NSA. Rumor has it AT&T has denied involvement as well, but I couldn't find an official report on that. A number of people including USA Today are skeptical of the companies' claims. We'll see how things play out...

Meanwhile, in related news, The Blotter (Official Blog of ABC News) is claiming that the FBI has used national security letters to spy on reporters in order to find sources who reveal classified information. Now, revealing classified information is a crime, and, when the information is classified for good reason, the government ought to track down the leaks and those people ought to go to jail. However (1) the current administration has a record of trying to keep everything classified in order to keep the public outcry down when they are doing things Americans don't approve of, and (2) national security letters are a PATRIOT Act provision which basically amount to search warrants that don't require judicial approval, and it is illegal to use them in anything other than a terrorism investigation. Hmm...