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Article • April 15, 2025 • from CLN May, 2025
The FBI’s Encrypted Phone Sting by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson A San Diego-based company called ANOM, often stylized as “ANØM,” distributed encrypted phones worldwide. These devices were stripped down, hardened against intrusion, and designed to allow messaging only between phones on the same closed network. Unbeknownst to users, …
Article • March 15, 2025 • from CLN April, 2025
FBI Pressured Forensic Science Group to Censor Critical Workshops, Emails Reveal by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson When the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (“AAFS”) announced its lineup of workshops for a recent conference, Ted Hunt, a senior policy advisor to the FBI’s crime lab, demanded that references to …
The FBI Really Doesn’t Want the Public to Know About This Surveillance Device by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) successfully sued for access to FBI information regarding cell-site simulators (“CSS”). For years, the FBI has used nondisclosure agreements (“NDA”) to hide their use …
Article • August 1, 2024 • from CLN August, 2024
FBI Encourages Use of Controversial Surveillance Program Despite Misuse by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott A top FBI official is urging his agents to continue using a warrantless foreign surveillance program, Section 702, to justify the bureau’s surveillance powers. This program, which has been misused to target U.S. …
Big Money and Massive Surveillance: The Finance Industry’s Partnership With Federal Law Enforcement by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary (“Committee “) released a report on March 6, 2024, entitled “Financial Surveillance in the United States: How Federal Law Enforcement Commandeered Financial …
Article • June 15, 2024 • from CLN June, 2024
DOJ Creates Database to Track Federal Law Enforcement Officers Accused of Misconduct by Sam Rutherford by Samuel Rutherford   As reported by the Associated Press, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the creation of a database designed to track serious misconduct complaints against federal law enforcement officers. The purpose of …
FBI Visit to Oklahoma Woman in Response to Social Media Post Sparks Debate on Free Speech by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Knott On March 19, 2024, an Egyptian-Muslim woman in Oklahoma filmed an encounter with FBI agents who visited her home to discuss social media posts. The video …
FBI’s Bias for Keywords by Carlo Difundo by Carlos Difundo In September of 2021, then-Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Jill Sanborn told the Senate that the FBI did not monitor publicly available social media conversations. “It’s not within our authorities,” she told them, adding that the First Amendment barred them from …
FBI Searches of NSA Data Extended Until April, Despite Admission of Unconstitutionality by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, signed by President Biden on December 22, 2023, Congress has extended the deadline to April 19th to fully re-authorize, …
Article • March 15, 2024 • from CLN March, 2024
Suspicion of Government Surveillance Increasing by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The concern among Republicans and right-leaning independent voters that federal law enforcement agencies—particularly the FBI—are becoming politicized is driving an increase in the distrust these Americans have that these agencies will abuse access to personal data. Traditional conservative …
Article • January 15, 2024 • from CLN January, 2024
FBI Access to FISA Database Includes Some Accountability by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso Ahead of the possible expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) on December 31, 2023, an explanation about the FBI’s controversial access to communications collected under this authorization was published by …
Article • January 15, 2024 • from CLN January, 2024
Filed under: Informants, FBI
FBI Lost Count of Its Snitches at Capitol on January 6, 2021 by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) had so many snitches at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, that the agency lost track of the number. Steven D’Antouno, formerly in charge of the …
FBI Buys Software to Enslave Your Phone by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson NSO Group is an Israeli firm started by former Israeli intelligence officers that produced some remarkably infamous software. The company’s software has become notorious for its use by governments with little regard for human rights violations …
Article • January 15, 2024 • from CLN January, 2024
House Judiciary Committee Investigates Major Banks for Unauthorized Sharing of Private Financial Information With the FBI by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott The House Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Select Subcommittee headed by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan is actively investigating major banks for allegedly sharing Americans’ private financial information …
Article • October 1, 2023 • from CLN October, 2023
How the Backdoor Loophole Enables the FBI to Search Your Communications Without a Warrant by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson The 2008 Foreign Intelligence ­Surveillance Amendments Act (“FAA”) Section 702 (codified as 50 U.S.C. § 1881A) exists to facilitate the capture of the communications of foreign actors as they pass …
Article • September 1, 2023 • from CLN September, 2023
The Two Faces of the FBI and DOD Facial Recognition Program by Carlo Difundo by Carlos Difundo It is a trope of the modern spy thriller. A drone flies overhead and captures a fleeting glimpse of some person of interest. The image begins as a pixelated blur from far above. …
Article • August 1, 2023 • from CLN August, 2023
FBI Make-Work Entrapment Schemes: Creating Criminals in Order to Arrest Them by Nisha Whitehead, John W. Whitehead by John and Nisha Whitehead “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”— Friedrich Nietzsche We’re not dealing with a government that exists to …
Article • June 15, 2023 • from CLN July, 2023
Inspector General Report: FBI Routinely Abused Access to Private Communications by Eike Blohm, MD by Eike Blohm, MD A recent Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Inspector General report found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) routinely sidesteps regulations of electronic surveillance and essentially deliberately misinterprets DOJ guidelines. Edgar Hoover was …
Article • May 13, 2023
FBI Continues Its War Against Public Key Encryption but Fails to Provide Evidence Requested by Congress by Miles Dyson by Miles Dyson In cynical move, the FBI has taken a controversial step towards advancing its anti-encryption agenda. Requesting assistance from local law enforcement agencies, the FBI has asked officers to …
Article • May 6, 2023
FBI’s Anti-Encryption Campaign Sparks Controversy by In an era of heightened digital privacy concerns, the FBI finds itself at the center of a swirling controversy surrounding its persistent campaign against encryption. The Bureau’s concerted efforts to establish backdoors in encrypted communication systems have ignited a fierce debate, pitting security and …
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