Nearly two years before the U.S. government's first known inquiry into the activities of Reddit co-founder and famed digital activist Aaron Swartz, the FBI swept up his email data in a counterterrorism investigation that also ensnared students at an American university, according to a once-secret document first published by Gizmodo.
The email data belonging to Swartz, who was likely not the target of the counterterrorism investigation, was cataloged by the FBI and accessed more than a year later as it weighed potential charges against him for something wholly unrelated. The legal practice of storing data on Americans who are not suspected of crimes, so that it may be used against them later on, has long been denounced by civil liberties experts, who've called on courts and lawmakers to curtail the FBI's "radically" expansive search procedures.
The government does store information indefinitely that can be used against you later at a more convenient time.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 15 2018, @07:25PM
These incidents are rare, but they are becoming more frequent. The media may even be to blame for causing that.
But yes, if we switched to driverless cars, started opening up supervised injection sites, or cured cancer, a lot more avoidable deaths would be prevented than if we somehow eliminated all mass murders.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]