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FBI Obtains Phone Records With a Post-it Note
angry tapir writes "The FBI was so cavalier — and telecom companies so eager to help — that a verbal request or even one written on a Post-it note was enough for operators to hand over customer phone records, according to a damning report (PDF) released on Wednesday by the US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General."
The "Canary Yellow" color of Post-It Notes is a trademark of 3M. See the legalese at the bottom of that site. Canary? Yellow? Too easy.... let's see some punchlines!
I wonder if this method would work at a bank?
I might save some time in the drive thru...
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
This is one of the biggest problems with cloud-stored data... if the FBI calls and wants it, they'll also attach a request that the service provider not tell you... and as we see that all fits on a Post-It Note. The FBI doesn't like letting the target of their investigations know they're been snooped upon... and the service provider is glad to not tell you they've violated their own privacy policy by giving out info without the proof that they're being legally obligated to do so. There could be a law in the way requiring... wait, they're already doing this despite there being laws in the way!
From an ex-employee who worked there, I have heard FBI agents walk into TP's data center with their own key cards, pull whatever they want and on the way out, wave at the guy running the DC while dropping off the necessary paperwork on the way out.
They're not above the law -- they are following PATRIOT Act that is still in place. This wonderful piece of legislature allows FBI to ask for records while placing a gag order on the source, i.e. whoever is going to give you up will not be allowed to tell you that your records are going to be send to law enforcement agencies.
Want change? Ask Obama to finally become the president of the U.S.
Check your facts. This has been going on for more than 1 year.
there is no need for the government to hack corporations. They cooperate.
This allows us to feel indignant when it happens in other countries.
Break the law, go to jail!
The FBI director's password was written on the back of the post-it note.
The FBI used these phone records to send a text message to a New York based purse theif asking him to turn himself in, in which he kindly obliged.
Every privacy policy that I've read - and I read every one for every website I do business with - states that they will give information to law enforcement or to entities that enable them to do business or to enhance my customer experience and then some.
They also say that they can change the terms any time they want.
In other words, no website really promises to keep you or your data private in their policies.
Google is one of the biggest offenders, btw. They constantly change their shit.
No, remember, exposing what the FBI is doing is what destroys America. If you don't want the FBI to illegally spy on terrorists -- and of course that's the only people they spy on, even if the report says the opposite -- then you want terrorists to destroy America. Because you love terrorists. And hate America.
The enemies of Democracy are
But was it an official FBI 3M PostIt Note?
I propose that yro be renamed wro - What Rights Online?
Curse Romy and Michelle for inventing something that the government is using to spy on it's own people!
I say we hang them for treason!
One of the rare times an AC goatse post should actually be considered insightful and informative.
Best "String" Ever!
Actually, if you had read the article, you'd realize that the DoJ findings pertain to FBI activity between 2003-2007. The report also mentions that towards the end, the FBI began cleaning up its practices a little - probably in anticipation of a new administration. Of course, now that the new administration has revealed itself as the same old administration with better table manners, they're probably back at it again.
Wrote on a post-it-note "Want $2,000,000" in small unmarked notes. All they did was have me arrested:( Clearly I need to work on my social engineering skills. Maybe next time I won't walk in with my helmet on, so they can see my big friendly smile.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I don't really care about my phone records (I never really call anyone anyway). But how hard is it for them to sift through my credit card records looking for dirt?
Or sued. Not the agents or supervisors, of course. But some low level telecom operator will pay. They need a scapegoat. Now.
Grey's Law: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
FBI is agile!
... that there are those, even a major cable news network, who want to return to the days of the Bush era. What are they fuckin' thinking? Are they even thinking at all?
The report refers to three telecom providers that placed employees in FBI offices, but it does not name the operators.
That should scare you even more than using post-it notes..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This is Slashdot. We're not going to get facts get in the way of a good Democrat-bashing, are we?! Mod parent down!
Wait, I thought the trump card was "But think of the children!"
There's a whole suit of 'em:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9
You could be thrown into Guantanamo forever if the President declared you an enemy combatant. No post-it or evidence required.
That's part of the problem is that these companies get so overly cooperative that the FBI doesn't have to bother with proper procedure, and so doesn't because it is easier.
We've run in to that on occasion. The FBI will want some info and we are more than happy to provide it. However, being that I work at a university, they have to do it right and get a subpoena and all that. The has vexed them before and taken way longer than it should. They don't get mad or threatening or anything, it just seems like it hasn't occurred to them that they might have to go through the proper channels before we can give them what they want.
It's kinda like that keep your pant's off the ground Rap.
F- a cloud, i hate even the concept of the Cloud.
I started out with a box that went out to the world and just came back(BBS), (it was by phone modem for the younger ones out there) not this James Bond/Enemy of the State stuff. It's getting Stupid.
I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
Phone Company: Hello you have called ###
Bad Person: I am Agent Poopyganger from the FBI Division of Computer Crime, i need to records of mobile number [insert celebrity #] from the last 72 hours.
Phone Company: Please Hold
Phone Company: where would you like me to send this data?
Bad Person: send it to horny86@gmail.com
Phone Company: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Bad Person: Not right now, cya
Hang Up.
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
I'll believe it is a "damning" report when I see the FBI Director forced to "retire" over this. Not bloody likely.
Yeah, I know this kind of shit probably went on pre-9/11. It was likely kept a bit more secret then. I just have a problem with the whole "yeah, so what if I did...What the fuck are YOU gonna do about it?" mentality they seem to take today with it, that's all. They don't operate along side, around, or even above the law. They just don't give a fuck anymore because everyone was issued a master key labeled "anti-terrorism". Why should I be worried about a terrorist attack when I'm too busy being attacked by my own Government?
I find it absurdly ironic that the "Justice" Department released this. Why do we have that Department again? They don't seem to be doing much these days to earn their name or the billions we pour into it.
I love my country--signed up to take a bullet (or an IED for her); however, I fear my gov't FAR more than any terrorist.
Al-Qaeda: 10,000 kills (approx)
Fed & State felony convictions: 9,000,000 (approx)
I'll take my chances with the terrorists, thank you.
But it was a really, really impressive Post-It note...
This ain't rocket surgery.
Police State, here we come.
"Some telecom employees, who were based in FBI offices so as to quickly respond to such requests..." The exchange of information is so direct that the parties involved literally work side by side. "Hi, my name is Bob and I've been hired by TelecomX specifically to provide information to the FBI." Nothing about this is frightening.
The obvious inferences, which aren't being expressed here so far, are:
1. Journalists are still important, in that they dig up this kind of information.
2. We all knew this would happen, after the relaxation of civil liberties laws.
3. There are probably worse things going on that we will never know about.
4. It's patriotic to insist that law enforcement personnel do what is right, and obey the law, and not look for ways to subvert it or bend the rules, because otherwise they are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
It's human nature to take the easy way and do what is expedient, which is how it plays out in TV cop shows. But in the real world, these guys have to do what is right, for the sake of the light of liberty - which is incredibly fragile. They're supposed to be defenders of the Constitution, which is a very fragile idea about freedom. I hope the agencies involved see the big picture and understand what is really at stake, rather than get defensive and cynical about troublesome rules and regulations that "only make their work harder."
Why aren't these people prosecuted ??
I mean, in a country where the average Joe gets in big trouble for telling the wrong joke at a airport you would have thought this to be a more serious crime ?!?
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
Since the US government is owned and controlled by large corporations through lobbyists and "campaign donations" (otherwise known as bribes, graft or payoffs), aren't the FBI just considered employees of said corporations? So in effect they are just sharing information within the corporation, right? Nothing wrong with that... :)
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out."
Martin Niemoller, a one-time supporter of Adolf Hitler.
In Soviet Russia, KGB gets your phone records.
Congrats, USA! Well-done.
I don't like it as much as the next guy, but there are limits on the use of National Security Letters and the FBI doesn't pay attention to them. The Inspector General has cried foul on numerous occasions about this, but Congress is too busy debating "more important things" like redistributions of wealth of to the health insurance industry to care.
While funny and snarky the proper response to that is
'Those very rules you need to get around, are the very rules that make our country great. If you skip the rules then you are no better than the thugs you are trying to take out.'
Which actually brings up a good question:
What is the fault against law enforcement in an offhand manner, vs that against the Telco's for cooperating with a request that has no legal enforcement.
In other words, the FBI is naughty for asking via postie-note, but the Telco's are sure as hell guilty by simply handing over data to such an informal request. The proper response should be "sure, we'll send it over once you fax us all the proper authorizing paperwork."
..Its now "Obama's Department of Justice"
We can still call it the DOJ for short, but the O is for Obama!
oldhack: "Security is a waste of money until shit hits the fan. 5 minutes later, it becomes waste of money again. "
The FBI is here to protect as all the Law agencies. Personally, as long as we have our privacy abiding by the Law, these agencies should have no trouble protecting us. Deal with it, I am.
Google doesn't ask Indian Police for justification. All it takes is an email request, and these IP addresses could be in USA!
A common reason India Cyber Crime cops ask for IP addresses is "cyber defamation"... and India has Criminal Defamation laws still in the books.
(Despite the original land of their laws changing with the times: United Kingdom: Defamation Decriminalised)
In 2005, a Singapore company eSys won the 2005 Ernst and Young award, rubbed shoulders with the elite, launched a Foundation and so on.
Things became more noteworthy when eSys used Indian Police Cyber Crime cell to fight their cyber-defamation ... and by 2009, it was clear that there was some serious fraud at eSys.
Mumbai Police even ordered an American to delete a Cartoon... did they need an excuse to do that ?
So if Indian Police can get IP address records from USA simply by asking, why not FBI ?