Tag: subpoenas

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

If it can conceivably be considered a “third party record,” the government is going to seek warrantless access to it. The Third Party Doctrine — ushered into existence by the Supreme Court in 1979 — says there’s no expectation of privacy in information shared with third parties. That case dealt with phone records. People may prefer the government stay out of their personal conversations, but the Smith v. Maryland ruling said that if people shared this info with phone companies (an involuntary “sharing” since this information was needed to connect calls and bill phone users), the government could obtain this information without a warrant.

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

When the FBI Attacks Critics as “Conspiracy Theorists,” It’s Time to Reform the Bureau

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Below is my column in the Hill on the need for a new “Church Committee” to investigate and reform the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after years of scandals involving alleged political bias. In response to criticism over its role in Twitter’s censorship system, the FBI lashed out against critics as “conspiracy theorists” spreading disinformation. However, it still refuses to supply new information on other companies, beyond Twitter, that it has paid to engage in censorship.

When the FBI Attacks Critics as “Conspiracy Theorists,” It’s Time to Reform the Bureau

Previously:

The FBI Paid Twitter $3.4 Million for Processing Requests:

Twitter’s “Guidelines for law enforcement” does state under a section titled “Cost reimbursement” that “Twitter may seek reimbursement for costs associated with information produced pursuant to legal process and as permitted by law (e.g., under 18 U.S.C. §2706).” But the fact that this garnered millions from the FBI was not, as far as I can tell, known until now.

State Dept. gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies unrestricted access to Americans’ personal data

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The State Department is giving law enforcement and intelligence agencies unrestricted access to the personal data of more than 145 million Americans, through information from passport applications that is shared without legal process or any apparent oversight, according to a letter sent from Sen. Ron Wyden to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and obtained by Yahoo News.

State Dept. gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies unrestricted access to Americans’ personal data

Trump’s TRUTH Social Turns Users’ Info Over to Police – Just Like Facebook and Twitter

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

TRUTH Social, the platform launched by former President Donald Trump earlier this year, complies with law enforcement requests in the same manner as more established companies.

While that information in and of itself is not particularly surprising, it does show TRUTH is more or less everything it purported not to be when Trump unveiled it to “stand up to the tyranny of big tech.”

Trump’s TRUTH Social Turns Users’ Info Over to Police – Just Like Facebook and Twitter

FBI Raids Homes, Offices Of Activists In Black Uhuru Movement

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

FBI Raids Homes, Offices Of Activists In Black Uhuru Movement

One of the other “unindicted co-conspirators” in the indictment is Louis J. Marinelli, who was the founder of CalExit, a right-wing campaign in the style of Brexit that called for California to secede from the United States.

Marinelli, who is white, was previously linked to the Russian government in US news media reports, but the FBI did not raid Marinelli’s home or the homes of any individuals linked to the secession campaign.

Related:

YouTube: Omali Yeshitela & Gerald Horne discuss the FBI Raids of the Uhuru Movement’s offices and homes

YouTube: Gerald Horne on the FBI Raids of the Uhuru Movement’s offices and homes and the broader implications (short clip, of Dr. Gerald Horne, from above interview)

[2010] FBI Launching Mass Raids of Antiwar Activists’ Homes

*In progress: Alexander Ionov case – Russiagate 2?

Steve Bannon just lost his bid to toss criminal charges over his defiance of House January 6 committee

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

A federal judge on Wednesday refused to throw out criminal contempt of Congress charges against Steve Bannon, greenlighting the July jury trial to proceed against the onetime Trump advisor over his defiance of the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Steve Bannon just lost his bid to toss criminal charges over his defiance of House January 6 committee