F.B.I. Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone Records

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/washington/13fbi.html?_r=1&sq=blanket&st=cse&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=1&adxnnlx=1205434994-diMbxGJzHjij4d/fs1nY5w
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine Date: Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 12:09 PMSubject: F.B.I. Made ‘Blanket’ Demands for Phone RecordsTo: letters@nytimes.com
To the Editor:
News that the F.B.I. "had issued thousands of 'exigent' or emergency records demands to phone providers in situations where no life-threatening emergency existed" raises more questions. Did the F.B.I. trample C.I.A. turf by reaching beyond its mandate (which is purely domestic)? Did the F.B.I. trample our guarantee of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure by evading proper judicial oversight? If civil lawsuits are the only venue in which the scope of the wrongdoings will be exposed to daylight, it is outrageous to consider that our congress might block them by immunizing the phone companies.
Barry Levine
1142 Brown Ave
Lafayette, CA 94549