**
Scotty Starnes posted: "From the ACLU: Justice
Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law
enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans’ electronic
communications, and doing so without warrants, sufficient oversight, or
meaningful a" Respond to this post by replying above this line
New post on *Scotty Starnes's Blog*
<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/> ACLU: DOJ
Documents Show 60% Increase in Warrantless Electronic Surveillance Under
Obama
Administration<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/aclu-doj-documents-show-60-increase-in-warrantless-electronic-surveillance-under-obama-administration/>
by
Scotty Starnes <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/>
>From the
>ACLU<http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/new-justice-department-documents-show-huge-increase>
:
Justice Department documents
<https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/pen-register-trap-and-trace-foia-request-documents-released-department>released
today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are
increasingly monitoring Americans’ electronic communications, and doing so
without warrants, sufficient oversight, or meaningful accountability.
The documents, handed over by the government only after months of
litigation<http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/aclu-sues-doj-ignores-surveillance-transparency-law>,
are the attorney general’s 2010 and 2011 reports on the use of “pen
register” and “trap and trace” surveillance powers. The reports show a
dramatic increase in the use of these surveillance tools, which are used to
gather information about telephone, email, and other Internet
communications. The revelations underscore the importance of regulating and
overseeing the government’s surveillance power. (Our original Freedom of
Information Act
request<https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/pen_register-trap_and_trace_foia_request.pdf>
and
our legal
complaint<https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/2012_05_03_-_filed_complaint.pdf>
are
online.)
Pen register and trap and trace devices are powerfully invasive surveillance
tools <https://ssd.eff.org/wire/govt/pen-registers> that were, twenty years
ago <http://openjurist.org/60/f3d/1314/united-states-v-r-fregoso>, physical
devices that attached to telephone lines in order to covertly record the
incoming and outgoing numbers dialed. Today, no special equipment is
required to record this information, as interception capabilities are built
into phone companies’ call-routing hardware.
Pen register and trap and trace devices now generally refer to the
surveillance of information *about*—rather than the contents
of—communications. Pen registers capture outgoing data, while trap and
trace devices capture incoming data. This still includes the phone numbers
of incoming and outgoing telephone calls and the time, date, and length of
those calls. But the government now also uses this authority to intercept
the “to” and “from” addresses of email messages, records about instant
message conversations, non-content data associated with social networking
identities, and at least some information about the websites that you visit
(it isn't entirely clear where the government draws the line between the
content of a communication and information about a communication when it
comes to the addresses of websites).
*Electronic Surveillance Is Sharply on the Rise*
The reports that we received document an enormous increase in the Justice
Department’s use of pen register and trap and trace surveillance. As the
chart below shows, between 2009 and 2011 the combined number of original
orders for pen registers and trap and trace devices used to spy on phones
increased by 60%, from 23,535 in 2009 to 37,616 in 2011.
<http://scottystarnes.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/original_orders.jpg>
During that same time period, the number of people whose telephones were
the subject of pen register and trap and trace surveillance more than
tripled. *In fact, more people were subjected to pen register and trap and
trace surveillance in the past two years than in the entire previous decade.
*
<http://scottystarnes.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/people_affected.jpg>
During the past two years, there has also been an increase in the number of
pen register and trap and trace orders targeting email and network
communications data. While this type of Internet surveillance tool remains
relatively rare, its use is increasing exponentially. *The number of
authorizations the Justice Department received to use these devices on
individuals’ email and network data increased 361% between 2009 and 2011*.
<http://scottystarnes.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/email_and_internet_authorizations.jpg>
The sharp increase in the use of pen register and trap and trace orders is
the latest example of the skyrocketing spying on Americans’ electronic
communications. Earlier this year, the *New York Times*
reported<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/us/cell-carriers-see-uptick-in-requests-to-aid-surveillance.html?pagewanted=all>
that
cellphone carriers received 1.3 million demands for subscriber information
in 2011 alone. And an ACLU public records project
revealed<http://www.aclu.org/protecting-civil-liberties-digital-age/cell-phone-location-tracking-public-records-request>
that
police departments around the country large and small engage in cell phone
location tracking.
Continue
reading>>><http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/new-justice-department-documents-show-huge-increase>
*Scotty Starnes <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/>
* | October 3, 2012 at 7:30 AM | Tags: 4th
Amendment<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=4th-amendment>,
cell phones <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=cell-phones>,
DOJ<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=doj>,
electronic
surveillance<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=electronic-surveillance>,
email <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=email>,
Internet<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=internet>,
invasion of
privacy<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=invasion-of-privacy>,
location tracking<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=location-tracking>,
Obama
Administration<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=obama-administration>,
spying <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=spying>, warrantless
wiretaps <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=warrantless-wiretaps> |
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