Chris Soghoian writes:
A 10 page Powerpoint presentation (pdf) that I recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Department of Justice, reveals that law enforcement agencies routinely seek and obtain real-time surveillance of credit card transaction. The government’s guidelines reveal that this surveillance often occurs with a simple subpoena, thus sidestepping any Fourth Amendment protections.
[…]
While Congress has required that the courts compile and publish detailed statistical reports on the degree to which law enforcement agencies engage in wiretapping, we currently have no idea how often law enforcement agencies engage in real-time surveillance of financial transactions.
Read more on slight paranoia.
Maybe DOJ shouldn’t spend as much time worrying about Julian Assange and should spend more time worrying about Chris Soghoian, who does an outstanding job of exposing some of what our government would clearly prefer we not know.