Privacy Is Dead: Get Over It

[WaTcHeR]

Federal agents arrested private investigator Steven Rambam on July 22 on trumped-up charges, just before he was scheduled to give a talk on privacy at the HOPE Number Six conference in New York City, and attendees who had hoped to hear him speak about the intersection of commercial and government databases and the resulting loss of privacy left disappointed, confused and more than a bit fearful.

But on November 16, he returned and gave a three-hour presentation to a standing room only audience at the Stevens Institute in Hoboken, N.J.

I attended HOPE Number Six back in July, and I heard rumors that day that one of the speakers had been arrested, but the details would not emerge until later. Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs was among the first to find out what happened and inform the public.

Rambam, who owns Pallorium, Inc., a company which provides support services to private investigators and law enforcement agencies, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, charged with witness tampering and obstruction of justice, and the charges promptly dropped.

The arrest was unrelated to the HOPE conference, but this didn’t come out until after the conference had ended. Many at the conference that afternoon and evening were worried about who the FBI would target next. And the large number of New York Police Department officers on Seventh Avenue weren’t making anyone feel safe.

When Rambam finally was able to give his presentation, he told everyone why this happened, and I won’t spoil the story for you by recounting it; you can hear him tell it for yourself. Suffice it to say for now that a bureaucrat got a little out of hand and did something he wasn’t supposed to do.

Rambam outlined several ways in which private companies get your personal information, combine it, and maintain massive databases, which are then available to.....

www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/11/27/privacy-is-dead-get-over-it/

[WaTcHeR]

Justice Department eyes spy program


11.28.2006 - WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into its handling of information gathered in the government's domestic spying program.

However, Democrats criticized the review as not going far enough to determine whether the program violates federal law.

The inquiry by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, will focus on the role of Justice prosecutors and agents in carrying out the warrantless surveillance program run by the National Security Agency.

Fine's investigation is not expected to address whether the controversial program is an unconstitutional expansion of presidential power, as its critics and a federal judge in Detroit have charged.

"After conducting initial inquiries into the program, we have decided to open a program review that will examine the department's controls and use of information related to the program," Fine wrote in a letter dated Monday to House and Senate leaders on judiciary, intelligence and appropriations committees.

The review also will look at "the department's compliance with legal requirements governing the program," according to the four-paragraph letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the agency welcomes the review: "We expect that this review will assist Justice Department personnel in ensuring that the department's activities comply with the legal requirements that govern the operation of the program."

In January, Fine's office said it did not have jurisdiction to investigate, as requested by more than three dozen Democrats, the legality of the secret program that monitors phone calls and e-mails between people in the U.S. and abroad when a link to terrorism is suspected.

Fine's letter outlining his review was welcomed by congressional Democrats. At the same time, they said it falls short of examining issues at the heart of the debate — how the spying program evolved, and whether its creation violated any laws.

"A full investigation into the program as a whole, not just the DOJ's involvement, will be necessary," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif.

The review could include whether the spying program complies with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical searches of people suspected of espionage or international terrorism on behalf of a foreign power. The Justice Department requests surveillance approval from the FISA court.

Democrats also questioned the timing of the review. Fine's letter noted that his office asked the White House on Oct. 20 for additional security clearances that were approved just last week — following the Nov. 7 elections that gave Democrats control of Congress.

Noting Democrats' renewed power to subpoena Bush administration officials next year, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., questioned that Fine's investigation "is only coming now after the election as an attempt to appease Democrats" who have been critical of the NSA program.

The letter was sent to House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and the panel's top Democrat and incoming chairman, Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich. Sensenbrenner had no comment. Conyers called the review "a long overdue investigation of a highly controversial program."

The Justice Department has called the program a necessary tool in the fight against terrorism, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pushing congressional Republicans to authorize it by law before they cede power at the year's end — a prospect with at best a slim shot of approval.

Former Reagan administration national security official Robert F. Turner, now associate director at the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia, said congressional demands for sensitive information about the program puts them at odds with long-standing presidential powers over the collection of foreign intelligence.

"It's good that the executive branch, on its own, is making sure that someone's not abusing this power," Turner said. "But when Congress usurps power vested in the president by the people through the Constitution, then it becomes the lawbreaker."

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/domestic_spying