NationStates Jolt Archive

FBI Wiretaps & the virtue of paying your bills

Aardweasels
11-01-2008, 02:00
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080110/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_unpaid_phone_bills

Really, 'nuff said.
Corneliu 2
11-01-2008, 02:07
It'd be funny if it wasn't so very sad.

Go thru all the trouble of getting them legalized, putting them in, but not paying the upkeep?

But then, our government seems to have a habit of doing things halfway.

That's a damn true statement.
Telesha
11-01-2008, 02:07
It'd be funny if it wasn't so very sad.

Go thru all the trouble of getting them legalized, putting them in, but not paying the upkeep?

But then, our government seems to have a habit of doing things halfway.
Sel Appa
11-01-2008, 02:14
Good.
Muravyets
11-01-2008, 02:56
How problems solve themselves. :D

Giant Evil Big Brother Government Conspiracies gettin' you down? Relax. It ain't gonna amount to anything.

Oh, and yay for capitalism, too. ;)
Mexar
11-01-2008, 03:02
ROTLF! Even the government can get bit by the phone company! :D
Jeruselem
11-01-2008, 03:30
LOL, wouldn't happen under a commie system!
That's capitalism for you.
Katganistan
11-01-2008, 03:32
I admit, I laughed pretty hard when I heard this on the nightly news.
Ohshucksiforgotourname
11-01-2008, 03:46
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080110/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_unpaid_phone_bills

Really, 'nuff said.

For every cloud (in this case FBI wiretapping) there is a silver lining (the phone companies nixing wiretaps for non-payment of bills).

:)
Jeruselem
11-01-2008, 04:16
Like the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" :p

Money for nothing and wiretaps for free
Non Aligned States
11-01-2008, 04:37
Quite the irony. I wonder if anyone will say the telco's are unpatriotic for cutting off unpaid lines now.