“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