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Armed agents seize records of reporter

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Jihadista On July 04, 2014

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Orange,
#1New Post! Oct 26, 2013 @ 12:23:56
"Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland's Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6."

The Washington Times is preparing legal action to fight a violation of the First Amendment.

“ ... there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” ... “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work." A Times spokesman said.

And probably the most interesting leagal issue:

“Homeland’s conduct in seizing privileged reporters notes and Freedom of Information Act documents raises serious Fourth Amendment issues, and our lawyers are preparing an appropriate legal response,” a spokesman said.

Washington Times
Jihadista On July 04, 2014

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Orange,
#2New Post! Oct 30, 2013 @ 13:57:41
In a story similar to the Audrey Hudson story, the F.B.I. wanted information about Snowden from Lavabit

"So began a four-month tangle with law enforcement officials that would end with Mr. Levison’s shutting the business he had spent a decade building and becoming an unlikely hero of privacy advocates in their escalating battle with the government over Internet security.

New York Times
Jihadista On July 04, 2014

Deleted



Orange,
#3New Post! Oct 31, 2013 @ 03:09:35
Lavabit And Silent Circle Join Forces To Make All Email Surveillance-Proof

"Lavabit and Silent Circle are the first two members of the “Dark Mail Alliance,” a group of email providers who will give users control over the privacy of their email so that it can’t be handed over to third parties, scanned for ads, or easily hijacked by an interceptor."

Forbes

According to my Grandfather, somebody tried to do this back in the early 1990's with a program called Pretty Good Privacy, and the FBI siezed the programs or did something to prevent the encryption of emails.
Jihadista On July 04, 2014

Deleted



Orange,
#4New Post! Nov 02, 2013 @ 00:33:13
Probes of journalists widen

“In the 30 years since the [Justice] Department issued guidelines governing its subpoena practice as it relates to phone records from journalists, none of us can remember an instance where such an overreaching dragnet for news gathering materials was deployed by the department, particularly without notice to the affected reporters or an opportunity to seek judicial review,” the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which represents more than 40 major news organizations, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr
Washington Times
Jihadista On July 04, 2014

Deleted



Orange,
#5New Post! Nov 02, 2013 @ 13:44:57
@Jihadista Said

"Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland's Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6."

The Washington Times is preparing legal action to fight a violation of the First Amendment.

“ ... there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” ... “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work." A Times spokesman said.

And probably the most interesting leagal issue:

“Homeland’s conduct in seizing privileged reporters notes and Freedom of Information Act documents raises serious Fourth Amendment issues, and our lawyers are preparing an appropriate legal response,” a spokesman said.

Washington Times


Here is an important detail, which I didn't see at first.

Once the documents had been “cleared,” Homeland Security decided to return the documents to Mr. Flanagan and Ms. Hudson, ...

Next page of Washington Times
chaski On March 28, 2024
Stalker





Tree at Floydgirrl's Window,
#6New Post! Nov 02, 2013 @ 13:54:47
If I may make 1 small point:

The media often uses lines/phrases like: "armed agents".

It is actually silly drama. Of course the agents are armed. They are law enforcement officers. When they conduct a search they come armed. They don't plan to execute a search warrant and say "oh let's not be safe today and carry our weapons because this person is probably just a reporter... who we just happen to be investigating in a gun case."

As to the 1st amendment right part: If the Feds violated anyone's 1st Amendment Rights (or any other rights), shame on them... they should be punished/admonished/fined...whatever the courts find to be appropriate.
Jihadista On July 04, 2014

Deleted



Orange,
#7New Post! Nov 02, 2013 @ 14:30:58
@chaski Said

If I may make 1 small point:

The media often uses lines/phrases like: "armed agents".

It is actually silly drama. Of course the agents are armed. They are law enforcement officers. When they conduct a search they come armed. They don't plan to execute a search warrant and say "oh let's not be safe today and carry our weapons because this person is probably just a reporter... who we just happen to be investigating in a gun case."

As to the 1st amendment right part: If the Feds violated anyone's 1st Amendment Rights (or any other rights), shame on them... they should be punished/admonished/fined...whatever the courts find to be appropriate.


Of course, that is the truth. In the United States, law enforcement personel are always armed, so saying armed police is a bit redundant.

I can see how people might be suspicious that the raid was intended to intimidate Ms Hudsaon, rather than find Mr Flanagan's guns.

The article says that Mr Flanagan has a criminal record, but Mrs Hudson says that the agents tore her office apart more than any other room in the house and that agents did not take non-TSA-related documents from the office.

Maybe the officials involved in the raid only did what government officials do best, protect their turf.
Jihadista On July 04, 2014

Deleted



Orange,
#8New Post! Nov 08, 2013 @ 13:29:12
The CIA annually pays AT&T more than $10 million to provide phone records with possible links to suspected terrorists

The arrangement is voluntary and there is no court order

The CIA passes on phone numbers of suspected militants abroad and AT&T then sifts through its database for records of phone calls that can identify foreigners with terrorist links,

the company does not reveal the identity of the American user and hides several digits of their phone number, allowing the CIA to comply with a ban on domestic spying

Japan Times
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