Posted on 06/30/2021 11:56:19 AM PDT by algore
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal law enforcement agencies secretly seek the data of Microsoft customers thousands of times a year
Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer security and trust, told members of the House Judiciary Committee that federal law enforcement in recent years has been presenting the company with between 2,400 to 3,500 secrecy orders a year, or about seven to 10 a day.
“Most shocking is just how routine secrecy orders have become when law enforcement targets an American’s email, text messages or other sensitive data stored in the cloud,” said Burt, describing the widespread clandestine surveillance as a major shift from historical norms.
The relationship between law enforcement and Big Tech has attracted fresh scrutiny in recent weeks with the revelation that Trump-era Justice Department prosecutors obtained as part of leak investigations phone records belonging not only to journalists but also to members of Congress and their staffers. Microsoft, for instance, was among the companies that turned over records under a court order, and because of a gag order, had to then wait more than two years before disclosing it.
Since then, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, called for an end to the overuse of secret gag orders, arguing in a Washington Post opinion piece that “prosecutors too often are exploiting technology to abuse our fundamental freedoms.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in opening remarks Wednesday that the Justice Department took advantage of outdated policies on digital data searches to target journalists and others in leak investigations. The New York Democrat said that reforms are needed now to guard against future overreach by federal prosecutors — an idea also expressed by Republicans on the committee.
“We cannot trust the department to police itself,” Nadler said.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
The police state is here. Thank you Rats and Rinos.
the impetus behind the national “Bureau of Investigation” being formed in 1908 was the rise of car theft and transport of stolen cars across borders. Prior to that, states collected and shared information on criminals via the independent National Bureau of Criminal Identification.
The only truly necessary function the FBI does is counter-intelligence against foreign spies in the USA. That job can be moved elsewhere. Disband the FBI, and give States back the job over tracking criminals between themselves.
“Trump-era Justice Department prosecutors... “
Land of the hopelessly deluded, Home of the constantly surveilled.
We cannot trust the government. It spies on citizens. It pays others to spy on them. It orders companies to release information.
The currently constituted government is corrupt.
And how many times are you told your data is safe in the cloud?
That all depends on what the definition of safe is.
you can easily have safe data in the cloud.
but not when you give your data to other people to keep it safe in the cloud.
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