• Tag Archives email

  • FBI Throws Up Digital Roadblock to Transparency

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Beginning March 1, FBI Will No Longer Accept FOIA Requests Via Email

    It’s well documented that the FBI is keen on adopting new technologies that intrude on our civil liberties. The FBI’s enthusiasm for technology, however, doesn’t extend to tools that make it easier for the public to understand what the agency is up to—despite such transparency being mandated by law.

    The FBI recently announced that it’s removing the ability for the public to send Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the agency via email. Instead, the FBI will now only accept requests sent through snail mail, fax, or a poorly designed and extremely limited website.

    The FBI’s decision to abandon email—a free and ubiquitous method of communication—as a means of sending in FOIA requests will make sending requests to the agency far more difficult. The decision will thus undoubtedly thwart both transparency and accountability, and the FBI must be well aware of this. In a world in which thermostats and toasters are increasingly connected to the Internet, the FBI’s rejection of emailed FOIA requests is a slap in the face to transparency. The FBI’s decision is all the more galling given that other agencies are currently embracing technologies that both help people making FOIA requests and help the agencies more efficiently and effectively process them.

    What’s more, the FBI’s alternative solution—it’s new “E-FOIA” website website—is no solution at all. The website places a 3,000 character limit on requests and has technical barriers that prevent automated FOIA requests. These constraints significantly limit the amount of information people can seek via a single request and needlessly slow down the process.

    Perhaps the biggest problem is the website’s terms of service, which place limits on the types of requests that can be filed digitally. They suggest the website will not accept FOIA requests seeking records about FBI operations, activities, or communications. Not only does this make no sense from a technical standpoint, it runs directly counter to the very purpose of FOIA: ensuring that the public can learn about an agency’s operations and activities.

    EFF is grateful to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or.), who sent a letter (pdf) to the FBI on Friday highlighting many of the concerns we have about the FBI’s abandonment of email and its reliance on an problematic website. We look forward to the FBI’s response.

    The FBI’s recent announcement makes one thing clear: Congress should—and easily could—update FOIA to require all federal agencies, including the FBI, to accept FOIA requests via email. In the digital world we live in, this is a no-brainier. EFF has been calling for this simple fix, along with a host of other changes, for some time, and we remain committed to supporting legislative efforts that increase government transparency.

    Source: FBI Throws Up Digital Roadblock to Transparency | Electronic Frontier Foundation


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  • State Dept.: 75-year wait for FOIA request not ‘outlandish’

    Posted on by Azrael 1 Comment

    The State Department on Tuesday defended its estimate that it would take 75 years to fulfill a request from the Republican National Committee for emails of three top Hillary Clinton aides, and said that length of time is “not an outlandish estimation.”

    “That is an incredible number,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner admitted. But he said the estimate is accurate because the RNC’s request is “very complex.”

    “It’s a very broad range involving a number of people over a period of four years, and it’s not an outlandish estimation, believe it or not,” Toner said.

    The State Department said in a court filing that it would take about 75 years for it to release all the emails to three of Clinton’s former aides: Cheryl Mills, Jacob Sullivan and Patrick Kennedy. The RNC is seeking those emails in a FOIA request.

    Source: State Dept.: 75-year wait for FOIA request not ‘outlandish’ | Washington Examiner


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  • Yes, the FBI and CIA can read your email. Here’s how

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The U.S. government — and likely your own government, for that matter — is either watching your online activity every minute of the day through automated methods and non-human eavesdropping techniques, or has the ability to dip in as and when it deems necessary — sometimes with a warrant, sometimes without.

    That tin-foil hat really isn’t going to help. Take it off, you look silly.

    Gen. David Petraeus, the former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, resigned over the weekend after he was found to have engaged in an extra-marital affair. What caught Petraeus out was, of all things, his usage of Google’s online email service, Gmail.

    This has not only landed the former CIA chief in hot water but has ignited the debate over how, when, and why governments and law enforcement agencies are able to access ordinary citizens’ email accounts, even if they are the head of the most powerful intelligence agency in the world.

    If it makes you feel any better, the chances are small that your own or a foreign government will snoop on you. The odds are much greater — at least for the ordinary person (terrorists, hijackers et al: take note) — that your email account will be broken into by a stranger exploiting your weak password, or an ex-lover with a grudge…

    Forget ECHELON, or signals intelligence, or the interception of communications by black boxes installed covertly in data centers. Intelligence agencies and law enforcement bodies can access — thanks to the shift towards Web-based email services in the cloud — but it’s not as exciting or as Jack Bauer-esque as one may think or hope for.

    Full article: http://www.zdnet.com … eres-how-7000007319/


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