“Prosecutors in a Los Angeles suburb say they have dramatically scaled back a vast and legally questionable eavesdropping operation, built by federal drug agents, that once accounted for nearly a fifth of all U.S. wiretaps,” Brad Heath and Brett Kelman report for USA Today and The Desert Sun. “”
“The wiretapping, authorized by prosecutors and a single state-court judge in Riverside County, alarmed privacy advocates and even some U.S. Justice Department lawyers, who warned that it was likely illegal,” Heath and Kelman report. “An investigation last year by The Desert Sun and USA Today found that the operation almost certainly violated federal wiretapping laws while using millions of secretly intercepted calls and texts to make hundreds of arrests nationwide.”
“Riverside’s district attorney, Mike Hestrin, acknowledged being concerned by the scope of that surveillance, and said he enacted ‘significant’ reforms last summer to rein it in,” Heath and Kelman report. “Wiretap figures his office released this week offer the first evidence that the enormous eavesdropping program has wound down to more routine levels.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile.
SEE ALSO:
Woz: U.S. government ‘picked the lamest case you ever could’ – March 8, 2016
This is Tim Cook’s Apple: Clash over iPhone privacy redefines Steve Jobs’ company – March 8, 2016
The roots of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s activism lie in rural Alabama – March 7, 2016
The full list of who’s for Apple and who’s for U.S. government overreach – March 7, 2016
Apple case exposes ongoing rift in Obama administration over encryption policy – March 7, 2016
Apple VP: It’s so disappointing that the U.S. government wants us to sell less-secure technologies – March 7, 2016
Why Apple should hold firm against U.S. government overreach – March 6, 2016
Why even Apple’s mortal enemies are lining up to protest U.S. government overreach – March 4, 2016
So they’ve wound down to “more routine levels” of criminality. Oboy.
US Govt invasion of our privacy is what Rumsfeld would call a “known unknowns”.
In the Obama administration, US Govt invasion of our privacy is known as “standard operating procedure.”
Sure, George, it started in 2009. Crawl back into your revisionist hole like Gollum.
Hey.
I wonder if Riverside DA Ramos will fire his subordinate Riverside’s Mike Hestrin for having a semblance of a brain in cutting the s down. What about the DEA eavesdropping flights in small aircraft?
Errr… Ramos is the DA for San Bernardino County. Hestrin is the DA for Riverside County. Neither has the power to fire the other. But that’s ok, your command of the facts is about average for the Internet and this forum.
Similarly, state DAs do not work for the Federal Government. Overreaching by a local prosecutor in Riverside County, CA is not attributable to the US Justice Department, which was apparently uncomfortable with having DEA agents on this task force. Likewise, the idiot dreaming about dormant cyber pathogens is a California state DA, and does not work for the Justice Department (which probably wishes he’d go away).
In turn, overreaching by Federal prosecutors, whether US Attorneys or at the main Justice Department, is not attributable to state prosecutors, who should not be blamed for same.
The issue here, I can say with some authority after working daily with elected state prosecutors for most of my life, is that the only way for a state prosecutor to win an election is to get some publicity… good, bad, or indifferent. There are very few contributors for the far down-ballot elections, so they need free publicity. The easiest way to do that is to do or say something that will get their name in the newspaper, whether it is one county DA in California running 20% of the wiretaps in the entire country or another California DA fighting against cyber pathogens.
“hundreds of arrests” – cool. I think it’s great how this massive, illegal operation has boosted the US even further onto the top of the ‘most people imprisoned’ charts.
Seriously, while illegal, it would still be interesting to know how many are actually serious criminals and how many are people busted for tiny amounts of drugs.
“I’m from the government. I’m here to help you.”
(Regardless of whether you like it)
Is this really about LAZY government employees who find it too stressful to follow the law and get court ordered warrants? If so, toss them out! The US Constitution and We The People WIN!