WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.

The plan, which could be made public next month, has already generated intense interest and speculation. Little is known about its precise language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations.

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

Small farmers, big ranchers, home farmers, animal and pet owners, and food freedom advocates have come together to legally fight implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The results are encouraging.

Click for source (Salon.com)

Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate.

By Tim Shorrock

Mortage lenders and brokers and even office assistants and secretaries could be subjected to new federal demands to be fingerprinted under a provision of a massive housing bailout plan – with attachments – that is moving through Congress.

An alert about the fingerprinting requirement comes from John Berlau, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington.

Click for source
The Department of Homeland Security is routinely searching laptops at airports when Americans re-enter the United States from abroad. The government then pores over or copies the laptop’s contents — including financial records, medical data and e-mail messages. These out-of-control searches trample the privacy rights of Americans, and Congress should rein them in.

Posted by Kurt Opsahl

New NSA Spying Decision Undermines Arguments for Telecom Immunity