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FBI Can't Find Its Drone Privacy Reports
v3rgEz (125380) writes "Programs run by the federal government are typically required to undergo a Privacy Impact Assessment if there's a chance they'll veer into monitoring the activities of citizens: The assessments help balance the risks and benefits of the program, and help guide any oversight to prevent abuse. But despite being legally mandated, the FBI and Justice Department have had a tough time producing the assessments done in conjunction with the Bureau's domestic surveillance drone program, first telling privacy advocates to file a FOIA request, and then rejecting that request, before ultimately claiming they now simply can't find the documents altogether."
Has anyone checked for this regarding the Stingray cell data collection program? Since "FBI Says All Public Records Requests For Stingray Documents Must Be Routed Through It," you'd think that these should also have a privacy report -- right?
The original question was if they did any privacy assessment report of the impact of using drones. I think by saying that they can't find any such report, the answer seems pretty obvious....
Any citizen paying attention a small fraction of the time can see that the rights of the governed just get in the way of these "patriots" solemn duty to protect us.
I don't know who you blame for the way things are. Is it the fault of the violators of the Constitution or the complacence the general public seems to have regarding government malfeasance?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
It's filed right next to the stingray privacy reports where they justify pissing all over the FCC's rules against operating an unlicensed transmitter.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Good thing Obama promised us "Hope and Change" and how he was going to run "the most transparent administration ever". Would hate for him to actually just be more of the same of his predecessor.
The realtor told us that the property the cell tower is on is owned by a .
Owned by an "invisible agency"?
There are big black cables going right from the cell tower into the brick building and back out again. It's a DIRECT tap off the cell phone tower!
Makes for a great conspiracy theory, but all fluff and no bite. It is very common for towers to have several co-located radio systems. Every location I know of in this area has several agencies all on the same tower. One coastal site I work at has Verizon, Coast Guard, and state radios.
You should realize that the 700/800MHz antennas for public service and feds look identical to the same band antennas that cell phone carriers use, and even different bands can be hard to differentiate from a distance. Especially when the federal systems are trunking and need the same kind of directionality that cell systems do. A "tap off the cell phone tower" is meaningless scare-mongering. You don't tap the tower.
And Stingray devices are inherently mobile -- you aren't going to see one fixed-mounted like this.
Congrats on being one of the useful idiots still distracted by the political circus. Keep playing that party ticket!
The only useful idiot is yourself. Otherwise, you'd be right there calling the bullshit, bullshit instead of hiding and going "oh-boo-hoo."
Om, nomnomnom...
So when is this second amendment right going to be put to use? Honestly Americans just keep slavishly knuckling under to their government whenever their civil liberties are infringed. Whether it's the NSA's illegal surveillance programs or the stingray use by the police or the FBI's privacy-invading drone program the public still does nothing. All the harping on about freedom, liberty and the need for guns in case the government needs to be replaced is all just bullshit, how much more downtrodden can you even get?!
The Second Amendment right will be put to use when people have more to gain than to lose. That is not the case today, and really we should hope it does not become the case. How would it work anyway, this Second Amendment option? Just start shooting at FBI agents? See how far that gets you.
As for how much more downtrodden we can get, it's a lot. A lot more downtrodden. We are not even close to being downtrodden enough to violently revolt against the government. As I said earlier, we should hope we do not get to that point.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
So they publicly admitted to committing a federal crime, I'm sure criminal prosecutions will be following swiftly then? Oh wait sorry, I forgot that the law only applies to little people.