FBI used Patriot Act to obtain ‘large collections’ of Americans’ data, DoJ finds
(Worthy News)– As lawmakers and security agencies braced for a potential loss of the heart of the Patriot Act, a long-delayed Justice Department report showed that the FBI uses the surveillance authorities it provides for “large collections” of Americans’ internet records, the Guardian reported.
Section 215 of the Patriot Act permits the FBI to collect business records, such as medical, educational and tax information or other “tangible things” relevant to an ongoing counter–terrorism or espionage investigation. Since 2006, the NSA had also secretly used it to collect US phone data in bulk.
After Edward Snowden’s leaks allowed the Guardian to reveal the phone-records bulk collection in June 2013, deep political opposition coalesced around the bulk program – eclipsing the FBI’s acquisition of other data, which has long been an issue only for civil libertarians. –[wp_colorbox_media url=”http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/21/fbi-patriot-act-doj-report” type=”iframe” hyperlink=”Source”]