Phone company cuts off FBI wiretap for unpaid bill
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A telephone company cut off an FBI international wiretap after the agency failed to pay its bill on time, according to a U.S. government audit released on Thursday.
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The man who provided key documents for an anti-spying suit against the telecom giant breaks his silence, claiming the Los Angeles Times killed his story at the feds' request. In 27B Stroke 6.
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MOSCOW -- A Russian nonprofit organization funded by the U.S. government to train journalists and improve management at local television stations has been shuttered by a criminal investigation that critics charge is politically motivated.
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A US court strikes down parts of the Patriot Act allowing the FBI to secretly access internet records.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has settled a complaint with an online company it says was illegally selling telephone records.
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Federal and local police across the country &amp;#151; as well as some of the nation&#039;s best-known companies &amp;#151; have been gathering Americans&#039; phone records from private data brokers without subpoenas or warrants.
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Noise on the wire Opponents of the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretapping program have suffered a pair of defeats in their efforts to rein in the scheme.â¦
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The Internet phone provider now faces paying out hefty damages and a possible shutdown of its service.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)&#160;has settled a complaint with a Web-based company it accused of selling people&#39;s telephone records without permission, the agency said Monday.The settlement with CEO Group, doing business as Check Em Out, bars the company and its operator Scott Joseph from marketing or selling phone records, and it requires the company to give up $25,000 of its profits from selling phone records. Selling phone records to third parties is illegal under federal law, the FTC had charged.The FTC in May 2006 filed complaints in U.S. court against five Web-based companies that obtained and sold confidential phone records to third parties. In addition to the settlement with CEO Group, the FTC has settled two other cases and obtained a default judgment against a fourth company. The complaint against the fifth company is still active.The FTC&#39;s complaints came after complaints from privacy groups and members of the U.S. Congress about pretexting, when someone obtains a telephone customers&#39; records without permission under false pretexts. In many cases, companies offering phone records over the Internet were calling telephone carriers and pretending to be the targeted customer. In September 2006,&#160;Hewlett-Packard revealed it had been spying on some of its board members and journalists in an attempt to uncover the source of boardroom leaks, and HP officials later said their investigators had used pretexting to obtain phone records.The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits customers&#39; phone records from being disclosed unless &quot;upon affirmative written request by the customer.&quot; The FTC charged the five Web-based companies of engaging in unfair business practices.The settlement with CEO Group prohibits it from obtaining, marketing or selling consumer phone records or other consumer personal information except where allowed by law, the FTC said in a news release. The settlement, approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, includes a judgment of $222,381, the amount the company earned by selling phone records, but the defendants said they were able to pay only $25,000. If the court finds that the defendants misrepresented their finances, the entire amount will be due, the FTC said.
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The FCC's new ruling on broadband wiretaps will force customers to pay for the privilege of making  the Internet less secure.
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The U.S. Congress has wrapped up its work for the year by passing a bill that would make it illegal to obtain a person's phone records without permission.
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Bill grants legal immunity to telecommunications companies that aided government wiretapping.
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AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein breaks silence to tell ABC News' Nightline about the NSA eavesdropping on the internet, but reveals little new information. In 27B Stroke 6.
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Senate proposal would scale back a provision of the USA Patriot Act that lets the FBI monitor alleged computer trespassers without a warrant.
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Some of nation's the largest banks were customers of a Florida firm shut down this year for pretexting, or lying, to get personal information such as phone records, the same practice that Hewlett-Packard Co. executives will testify to Congress about today.
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More than 200,000 customers of the internet company could lose telephone access and money paid in advance now that it has gone out of business.
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The FBI underreported its use of the USA Patriot Act to force businesses to turn over customer information in suspected terrorism cases, according to a Justice Department audit