Journalists are certainly hosed on free press...
Approving Use of Wiretap, Judge Deals Blow to Free Press
Journalism took another hit yesterday when a federal judge ruled the government could legitimately tap the phones of anyone handling "material that is not generally available to the public."
The ruling came in the AIPAC case, which deals with two pro-Israel lobbyists' receipt of classified intelligence from a Pentagon official. The two lobbyists had challenged the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by investigators to secretly record their conversations. But the judge ruled that “collection or transmission of material that is not generally available to the public” qualifies as an activity that could merit wiretapping under FISA
As noted in JTA's story on the ruling (sub. req.), such a broad justification could have ramifications for journalists:
Free-speech advocates, already alarmed by the prosecution’s unprecedented use of a 1917 statute that criminalizes the mere receipt of classified information, found new grounds to worry in this ruling.
Steven Aftergood, who heads the Secrecy Project for the Federation of American Scientists, a nuclear watchdog, said he was alarmed by Ellis’ classification of the “collection or transmission of material that is not generally available to the public” as meriting a surveillance act wiretap warrant.
“That could qualify us for a FISA warrant,” Aftergood told JTA. “That’s at the core of a free press."
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001406.php
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=16990&intcategoryid=3
2 comments:
Kittybowtie,
I remembered O'Donnell's interview with the Ambien.. Until the media refused to be indenture servant, lapdogs, butt kissers, and spineless to the Gerbil and company, they shouldn't bitch and moan about their free press being taken away.. You are right.. A good swift in the ass is a wake up call from the reporters to do their jobs and have some backbone and intergrity in the name of journalism!
Don't even go there about Shug looking like Catwoman or Halle Berry... Ms. Berry has class... Shug is the Gerbil's girlfriday... Maybe Shug wears that Catwoman suit for the Gerbil at night.. Give him a rise or something...
Post a Comment