FBI Went Further Than Previously Thought In Wiretapping Scheme

Newly obtained documents show that perhaps the demands made by the FBI to telecommunications companies went far beyond requesting phone records of customers under suspicion; and included analyses of their broader patterns of communication with others as well.^[1]

The FBI used national security letters to request information on the wider "community of interest" linked to individuals under suspicion, according to the documents.^[2]

The data-mining technique can lay bare phone and e-mail links that tie together otherwise indiscernible networks of individuals.^[3] Law enforcement officials value that sort of data as a means of identifying a suspect's potential conspirators.^[4] However privacy advocates say it can ensnare people with no tie to illegal or suspicious activity.^[5]

The "community of interest" requests were included in more than 2,500 pages of FBI documents the Electronic Frontier Foundation, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.^[6] These requests first appeared in a story published by The New York Times, which can be found here.

The FBI letters use boilerplate language to request that companies provide calling records for redacted lists of telephone numbers, citing "exigent circumstances, then they state: "Additionally, please provide a community of interest for the telephone numbers in the attached list."^[7]

Earlier this year, the Justice Department's inspector general uncovered 700 cases in which FBI agents obtained telephone records through such "exigent letters."^[8] These letters asserted that grand jury subpoenas had been requested for the data when in fact such subpoenas never had been sought.^[9]

The FBI recently stopped asking for "community of interest" data, amid broader questions about the bureau's aggressive use of national security letters, and recently a federal judge struck down a key part of the USA Patriot Act on Thursday, saying the FBI must justify to a court the need for secrecy if the orders for phone and e-mail records will last longer than a reasonable and brief period of time.^[10]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously blogged about the U.S. government’s warrantless wiretapping, here, here and here.

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^[1] AP Staff, Wide Net Cast in Terrorism Inquiries, Associated Press Newswire, September 9, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
^[2] Id.,
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Id.