Audit finds FBI Abused Patriot Act

happyslayer writes: "One topic that's sure to get heavy and fierce discussion on Slashdot is the US PATRIOT ACT and the use of security letters, particularly if you run a network, ISP, or hosting service with registered users from outside your organization.

According to this story, the US Government Accounting Office, the FBI has not always been "forthcoming" about the numbers, reasons, and results of the security letters.

From the article:

Over the entire three-year period, the audit found the FBI issued 143,074 national security letters requesting customer data from businesses.

The FBI vastly underreported the numbers. In 2005, the FBI told Congress that its agents in 2003 and 2004 had delivered only 9,254 national security letters seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents over the previous two years.

Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible violations in its use of the national security letters, including failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.

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