FC: FBI database: Rumor and innuendo now standard police tools?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: "Chuck Mauthe" <cmauthe () transcard com>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: rumor and innuendo are now acceptable police tools?
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 14:49:41 -0500

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22955-2003Mar25.html

Justice Dept. Lifts FBI Database Limits


By TED BRIDIS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; 5:14 AM


The Justice Department lifted a requirement Monday that the FBI ensure the
accuracy and timeliness of information about criminals and crime victims
before adding it to the country's most comprehensive law enforcement
database.

The system, run by the FBI's National Crime Information Center, includes
data about terrorists, fugitives, warrants, people missing, gang members and
stolen vehicles, guns or boats.

Records are queried increasingly by the nation's law enforcement agencies to
help decide whether to monitor, detain or arrest someone. The records are
inaccessible to the public, and police have been prosecuted in U.S. courts
for misusing the system to find, for example, personal information about
girlfriends or former spouses.

Officials said the change, which immediately drew criticism from
civil-liberties advocates, is necessary to ensure investigators have access
to information that can't be confirmed but could take on new significance
later, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said.

[...]




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