FBI abused spy law but only like 280,000 times in a year

The Register ^ | 22 May 2023 | Jessica Lyons Hardcastle

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Well, well, well, if it isn't the Leaning Tower of FISA again

The FBI misused controversial surveillance powers more than 278,000 times between 2020 and early 2021 to conduct warrantless searches on George Floyd protesters, January 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol, and donors to a Congressional campaign, according to a newly unclassified court opinion.

On Friday, the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court made public a heavily redacted April 2022 opinion [PDF] that details hundreds of thousands of violations of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — the legislative instrument that allows warrantless snooping.

The Feds were found to have abused the spy law in a "persistent and widespread" manner, according to the court, repeatedly failing to adequately justify the need to go through US citizens' communications using a law aimed at foreigners.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

The FBI has placed themselves above the Constitution and above the Law. Honestly, we are slipping into a totalitarian state. Justice is no longer blind. Justice is no longer applied equally. But the article errs when it claims the FBI investigated the George Floyd rioters. The FBI completely ignored the crimes committed in the name of George Floyd, but focused instead on patriots like Kyle Rittenhouse.

[Bounced2X]

There is no way FISA was NOT going to be “abused”. It was put in place to do exactly what it’s being used for.

[euram]

I’d like to know the breakdown of the requests just to see how many “George Floyd protestors” compared to “January 6th rioters” were run thru the system. I think we should also know which Congressional Campaign was subjected to this kind of scrutiny.

[MMusson]

We know they are going to cheat and will never be prosecuted under current laws. So, just charge each individual agent $500 per occurrence. Have it come right out of their paycheck directly. Make it like a traffic ticket with no appeal.

That will reduce the problem by 95%.