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New FBI Operations Manual Increases Surveillance
betterunixthanunix writes "The New York Times is reporting that the new FBI operations manual suggests a broad increase in surveillance. Denoted the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, the manual officially lowers the bar of acceptability when it comes to engaging in surveillance activities, including allowing agents to perform such surveillance on people who are not suspected terrorists without opening an inquiry or officially recording their actions. The new manual also relaxes rules on administering lie detector tests, searching through a person's trash, and the use of teams to follow targeted individuals. It should be noted that these guidelines still fall within the general limits put in place by the attorney general."
0 comments, because they're watching
They are running out of things to do, ways to spend/waste tax payer dollars...
Why is the federal government so in love with polygraph machines given the scientific community's near-complete dismissal of polygraphs as valid?
(The cynical side of me says it's because they give superiors and judges a reason to pass their opinion as judgement on someone without any real evidence...)
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
"they" are going to keep trashing the Constitution; and 90%+ of "We The People" are going to continue to just sit there and take it. .sig
Want to join a tireless, irate minority that's actually, measurably turning the tide? We're gathering. We're winning. See my
Part of the Second American Revolution!
so is getting your crotch fondled without probable cause, or getting your bank account frozen for a month while bill checks bounce just because you deposited or spent more than your "usual" amount of money....but since we're now a police state instead of a democratic republic with rights none of that matters anymore
As the GOVcorps continues to take money out of the economy/circulation they know this causes stress on the people and want to catch any uprising so to fill the 180 FEMA detention camps across the country. If you doubt the reduction of currency in circulation then where did all the trillions (10+) go that so many countries are doing the bailout dance? Wikileaks showed that Israel has intentionally kept the Gaza strip on the brink of economic collapse.... for their sense of control. the "Trillion dollar bet" of the 90's drained south east Asia. Sept 10, 2001 Donald Rumsfeld stated 2.3 trillion of pentagon spending is unaccounted for and later there seems to be 9.7 trillion of bailout money is "We don't know where it went".... So the US doing the same to its people as Israel to the Gaza strip, simply requires more of the big brother watchful eye...And YES things are intentionally going to get worse.
Yeah.. So?
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
I like this line at the very end:
But she rejected arguments that the F.B.I. should focus only on investigations that begin with a firm reason for suspecting wrongdoing.
Is anyone else somewhat appalled that they don't need a "firm reason for suspecting wrongdoing" to waste time and money on an investigation? Add that to everything about this manual, and it kind of seems like the FBI is wasting enormous amounts of taxpayer money running around looking into random BS instead of focusing on serious issues. Even if we forget about the trampling of rights of innocent people here, and forget about them spending our money helping the MPAA/RIAA sue people, the mere fact that they are willing to investigate without a firm reason is bothersome from a "you-work-for-me-and-you're-wasting-time" perspective.
Please detail for us in what ways the FSP is "actually, measurably turning the tide". Don't just say "read the site"; who has time to trawl through the whole site? Spell it out for us. Or stop making empty boasts.
My impression of the FSP is that it will never reach the 20,000-signature mark, and the fewer than 1,000 members that have moved (or were already there) have made some impact on local politics, perhaps a little at the state level, and none at all at the national level. I'd be delighted to hear I'm wrong.
The cops shouldn't have the ability to google your name to see if you've been bragging about your crimes?
As for the "piss off a federal agent" thing, that will always be a part of the paradigm, as long as we rely on human beings to investigate and prosecute crimes. The key is to rely on independent human beings to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by federal agents.
If you read TFA you realize that 90% of this story is about how much infrastructure we have in place to ensure that the things cops can do are not abused by the cops.
Because, left to their own devices, they devise rubber hoses, evidence drops, and one-way trips to the county line. This is nothing more than telling them there are things they can do that aren't rubber hoses, evidence drops, or one-way trips to the county line, that they can devise on their own recognizance and still be acting within a suspect's rights.
When I read this story in the local paper (probably a NYT or AP version, likely shrunk) it made it sound like that many of these things they've already been doing but that they required "opening an official investigation" or something to that effect, which involved some oversight but a ton of bureaucracy and turning the wheels of process.
The net effect seemed to be that they could continue to do some of this stuff, except it would require less organizational oversight and more personal discretion.
THIS is the part I find shocking. I read a story recently about an IRS agent who makes a point of running plates on sports cars he sees on the streets and then checking to see if the people who own the car list enough income on their taxes to justify the ownership. If it seems fishy, he then does a criminal audit.
Even though the people may be cheating on their taxes, this strikes me as kind of rogue behavior that I'd hope the FBI would be restrained from.
A lot more are listed over at http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?253-New-Hampshire
Part of the Second American Revolution!
Surprisingly, the FBI waited to give out these new powers to their agents until just _after_ the Congress approved renewal of the PATRIOT Act. Wouldn't want to risk losing a few votes by doing it beforehand, while they were whining about how they needed to keep all the power they had.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
You have "Unconstitutional" confused for "Inconvenient".
According to the summary and TFA, and the USAG, the changes are still constitutional. You may disagree with USAG, but you should doubt that the SCOTUS will.
It may not be common, but it does happen. There are two nuggets in this particular link. First, Alberto Gonzales claimed that the Constitution does not guarantee the right of habeas corpus -- just that, IF you already have the right, it can't be denied to you. Anyone familiar with the Constitution will understand that Gonzales' interpretation of the Constitution WRT habeas corpus is simply asinine. Second, in the linked article, Dean states that the Supreme Court has, in fact, rebuffed Gonzales' notion that the Constitution does not guarantee the right of habeas corpus (which, in all truth, I was not aware of until reading the article). I'm not saying that SCOTUS will always get it right when the AG gets it wrong, but sometimes SCOTUS does act as an effective brake on an otherwise out-of-control executive branch, fortunately. In this case, however, I'm not entirely sure I would count on SCOTUS to reign in the FBI. To my non-lawyer mind, some of these look sufficiently grey to possibly not trigger the "reasonableness" clause of the 4th Amendment (for example, searching through your trash, since, IIRC, there is precedent that once you put your trash on the curb, it's not an invasion of your privacy to search through it).
BTW, these are all things that the agents can do, physically, at any time, and any abuse of that ability is still unconstitutional. It's just that now they don't have to go through red tape to get legitimate actions approved administratively. It wasn't a matter of getting a warrant before, and it isn't now. So it allows lower-level cops to abuse your rights, instead of requiring an executive decision to abuse your rights, if anyone's going to use these tools illegally.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
The simple idea behind it all is that there is no way in hell you could possibly heed ALL laws ALL the time. I'm fairly sure I broke a law today. Without even noticing. Why? Because I don't know all the laws, duh. And since more and more laws make less and less sense intuitively, you're prone to breaking the rules sooner or later.
Now, if you've already been watched, they already got something to nail you with. Needn't be much. Playing your music a little too loud at odd times, letting your dog shit where it's not supposed, crossing the street at the wrong place, anything will do. Will anything of this be used to arrest you? Not really. At least as long as you don't become a "troublemaker". Like someone asking where certain money goes, or someone questioning the handouts to business or anyone else "inconvenient". Then you will get harassed with it 'til you realize that it's better for you if you didn't mess with the powers that are and let them get away with corruption and squandering.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The cops shouldn't have the ability to google your name to see if you've been bragging about your crimes?
Absent any reasonable suspicion, no they shouldn't. Just having your name become known by the cops in the regular course of events isn't enough reason. Just like they shouldn't be able to "join" a church congregation looking for KKK members or anti-war groups with no history of violence.
Sanctioning that sort of thing is COINTELPRO shit, just not quite so organized.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
There are other ways to deal with universal surveillance. I mention some here: :-) "
http://www.pdfernhout.net/on-dealing-with-social-hurricanes.html
"And our second biggest advantage is that our communications are monitored, which provides a channel by which we can turn enemies into friends.
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
Then leave, or fight, or STFU. Who needs whiners?
That may be, but it has the large advantage of being an early presidential primary state. There isn't likely any other state where a 20,000 vote swing could have much if any influence on national politics.
Part of the Second American Revolution!