Monday, April 25, 2011
STLToday.com
DETROIT — Federal investigators in Detroit have taken the rare step of obtaining search warrants that give them access to Facebook accounts of suspected criminals.
The warrants let investigators view photographs, email addresses, cell phone numbers, lists of friends who might double as partners in crime, and see GPS locations that could help disprove alibis.
There have been a few dozen search warrants for Facebook accounts nationwide since May 2009, including three approved recently by a federal magistrate judge in Detroit, according to a Detroit News analysis of publicly available federal court records.
The trend raises privacy and evidentiary concerns in a rapidly evolving digital age and illustrates the potential law-enforcement value of social media, experts said...[Full Article]
Labels: big brother, Facebook, federal agents, privacy
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Feds To Seek More Extensive Internet Eavesdropping Authority
WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally...
[Full Article]Related Articles:
U.S. Wants Broader Internet Wiretap Authority
Feds Seek Broader Internet Eavesdropping Rights
Obama Admin Wants Congress to Force All Online Services to be Wiretap-Able, Including Social Networks
U.S. Works To Make Internet Wiretaps Easier
[Webmaster - In reality, they are probably already doing what they say they "want" to do.]
Labels: big brother, eavesdropping, federal agents, Internet, law enforcement, privacy, wiretapping
Sunday, March 28, 2010
SANDUSKY and HURON 
The Toledo Police Northwest Ohio Bomb Squad and a police dog unit from Cleveland's RTA were among those responding with the FBI Saturday, March 27, 2010, at Bayshore Estates in Sandusky. Register photo/SARAH WEBER
A second raid was conducted in Huron. An FBI agent at the scene of the Bayshore Estates raid said a second, related raid was taking place at “another location.” Huron police confirmed late Saturday a raid had taken place in that city, but would say nothing more.
Likewise, FBI agents at the scene and at the Cleveland field office are staying mum on the cause of the commotion.
“We did make some arrests,” said special agent Scott Wilson of the FBI’s Cleveland office.
He said the warrants were sealed in federal court and he could not release any information until after the suspects appear in court Monday.
Sandusky Police, Erie County Sheriff’s deputies, agents from Toledo Police Bomb Squad and Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s K9 Unit assisted at the scene.
Capt. Paul Sigsworth of the Erie County Sheriff’s office said he could not talk about the investigation.
Agents at Bayshore Estates yelled at residents to stay back at least a block from where they conducted the arrest on East Cedarwood Drive. Agents placed a handcuffed white male wearing a black shirt into a silver car.
Some officers in green uniforms carried large automatic rifles.
“We’re definitely in the dark,” said Terry Mills, who manages the trailer park with his wife, Barb.
A resident who asked her name not be used said she was reading in her living room when she heard sounds “like a semi” and a police radio, and looked outside to see two agents in FBI jackets crouching behind her car and more armed officers in her lawn.
She said an armored vehicle at the scene was one she’d seen earlier in the day on West Perkins Avenue.
The quiet east side neighborhood has seen its share of disturbances this year. It’s been the site of three total-loss trailer fires, one of which killed veteran John C. O’Reilly, 66, on New Year’s Day.
“It’s getting to be too much now,” Mills said.
He said he didn’t know who was arrested or why.
Labels: federal agents, Huron, Ohio, police, raids, Sandusky
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