Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Lawsuit Filed Over FBI Surveillance Docs

A high-tech watchdog group filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Wednesday demanding the public release of the surveillance guidelines that govern investigations of Americans by the FBI. The protocols took effect in December 2008 and detail the bureau's procedures and standards for implementing the attorney general's guidelines on approved surveillance strategies. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's complaint comes after DOJ failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for a complete copy of the document. FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni has acknowledged that "the expansion of techniques available [to the bureau] has raised privacy and civil liberties concerns."

Investigations can include the electronic collection of information from online sources and computer databases, as well as the use of grand jury subpoenas to obtain telephone and e-mail subscriber information, EFF said in a press release. Other recent policy changes allow the FBI to engage in free-ranging investigation of Internet sites, libraries, and religious institutions, the group said. "Americans have the right to know the basic surveillance policies used by federal investigators and how their privacy is -- or is not -- being protected," EFF senior counsel David Sobel said. Read EFF's full complaint to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia here.

Update: An FBI spokesman would not comment on the lawsuit but said: "It is the FBI's job to protect Americans, not only from crime and terrorism, but also from incursions into their constitutional rights. That effort starts with the FBI's commitment to scrupulously protect privacy rights of civil rights and civil liberties in the course of its investigations."