FBI abusing PATRIOT Act powers

The US Justice Dept Inspector General recently published a report indicating that the FBI has been engaged in far more secretive surveillance activities than previously thought, and that much of this activity involved improper use of "National Security Letters" to compel telephone companies, banks, and credit institutions to produce customer records. The report found that the FBI had issued over 44,000 letters containing 143,000 data requests between 2003 and 2005, and that an estimated 3,000 of these letters were illegal or improper. Washington Post article ACLU webpage on National Security Letters Gagged NSL recipient speaks out