National Security Letters and the FBI Abuses

by Jennifer Granick, posted on March 14, 2007 - 8:17am.

I weigh in on NSLs and the FBI with today’s Circuit Court column: FBI Slips Demand Patriot Act Cuts.

I think the most interesting part of the column is the end where I try to grapple with the FBI’s assertion that the lower standard of proof for national security letters is really helpful to their investigations. While its a small part of this column, its an issue I plan to discuss more in future columns, and as Congress begins to reconsider the USAPATRIOT grant of powers in light of the FBI abuses.

Substantive Tags: privacy
Comment by David Sloane, Esq. (not verified), posted March 17, 2007 - 9:41am

When news of the FBI privacy abuses broke it barely invoked a yawn with me. The Patriot Act was never anything but an FBI wishlist to effectively destroy three-hundred years of 4th Amendment jurisprudence and virtually all state and federal privacy statutes. And now we're surprized?

David Sloane

http://www.sloanelaw.com