FBI Seeks To Pay Telecoms For Data
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The FBI wants to pay the major telecommunications companies to retain their customers' Internet and phone call information for at least two years for the agency's use in counterterrorism investigations and is asking Congress for $5 million a year to defray the cost, according to FBI officials and...
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t first glance, it might seem like the simple extension of a standard tool in the fight against the bad guys. But in fact, wiretapping Internet phones to monitor criminals and terrorists is costly
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Telecommunications companies have repeatedly cut off FBI access to wiretaps of alleged terrorists and criminal suspects because the bureau did not pay its phone bills, according to the results of an audit released yesterday.
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A phone company cut off a FBI foreign-intelligence wiretap after the FBI failed to pay its bills, according to an internal audit. The disconnection was just one consequence of the FBI's routine late payments to the nation's telecoms for wiretaps and surveillance infrastructure.
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The FBI, which has had trouble keeping track of its guns and laptops, also has a chronic problem paying its phone bills on time, according to audit results released yesterday.
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Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and IBM are vying for a multibillion-dollar contract to build a database for fingerprints and other biometric information that the FBI is set to award this week.
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Data collection that would cause U.S. citizens to be "up in arms" were it done by the government is easily possible with even basic sniffing of everyday Wi-Fi traffic, according to a speaker at this week's Black Hat conference.
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Agency seeks public comment as first step in deciding how far Internet service providers can go before they transcend "reasonable network management" and run afoul of federal policy.
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The case examines the use of private detectives to obtain the phone records of board members and journalists.
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'You phone bill is overdue' FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals have been repeatedly canceled by telephone companies because the bureau failed to pay their bills on time.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. lawmakers promised to push ahead legislation aimed at cracking down on pretexting despite some objections from telecom carriers and the U.S. Department of Justice. Nearly all the members of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee pledged to push the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, which would give the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority to file lawsuits against pretexters and the people who hire them. The bill would also require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to draw up new rules for telecom carriers to protect private phone records, and it would prevent carriers from sharing customer information with third parties without permission. Despite some concerns about the bill, lawmakers said consumers need protection against pretexting, the practice of posing as a telecom customer to obtain phone records and other private information. "Someone with bad intentions and a few bucks can get a hold of almost anybody's cell phone records," said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. President George Bush signed a bill creating criminal penalties for pretexting in January. But proponents of the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act say the extra protections in the bill are also needed. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the same bill during the last session of Congress, but the legislation apparently was held up on the House floor because of concerns from federal law enforcement agencies that the bill could slow efforts to get information on terrorism suspects. Lawmakers from both parties complained that they received little explanation about why the bill died last year. Thomas Navin, chief of the FCC's Wireline Bureau, said the Department of Justice was concerned that the FCC would set up rules that consumers are notified too soon after their phone records were accessed by someone else. The DOJ wanted a delay of seven days before consumers were notified, he said. But Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said consumers should be notified immediately. "I don't think the Department of Justice should be listened to on that issue," he said. "I think [victims] should be listened to on that issue." Markey pointed to news reports this week saying the FBI may have violated the law and its internal rules while collecting telephone, data, and other personal records through the Patriot Act. "There is still a lack of respect for the law of our country," he said. Beyond the law enforcement concerns, representatives of trade groups the United States Telecom Association and CTIA-The Wireless Association said the bill could prevent them from sharing customer information with third parties that market complementary products. CTIA members don't share customers' personal information with unrelated groups, but the carriers do use third-party vendors to market wireless-related products, said Steve Largent, CTIA's president and CEO. But Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, questioned industry concerns about language in the bill that could require carriers to get opt-in permission from customers to share their personal data. "It seems if we want to protect privacy, we should change this from opt out to opt in," he said.
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Financial institutions charged with sharing data concerning possibly suspicious transactions are swamping investigators' abilities to effectively parse the information.
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The FBI's Internet wiretaps after retiring "Carnivore" appear to involve compiling massive databases of information on thousands of users at a time.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking for victims of a data breach at ChoicePoint announced in early 2005.
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The FBI was acting illegally when it used the USA Patriot Act to covertly obtain telephone, business and financial records about people living in the United States, according to an audit by the Justice Department. By the Associated Press.
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A Congressional inquiry into online data brokers has raised concerns that federal and local law enforcement may be skirting privacy laws to obtain calling records
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By KATHERINE SHRADER WASHINGTON - Using a new laptop and a satellite link, FBI agents can find out within two minutes whether the fingerprint from a newly captured suspect overseas matches a terrorist database in Virginia.