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Fiona Tang writes in ACLU FOIA Seeks Information About How Government Launders Evidence:
Today the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records related to "parallel construction," the government's practice of falsifying a trail of evidence in order to conceal controversial investigative techniques from the courts and the public.
Under parallel construction, instead of disclosing how its investigation actually took place, the government presents a sanitized version of events. The practice allows the government to evade legal challenges to the use of such techniques, and also to keep the very existence of such techniques a secret. Recent news reports have shown that parallel construction might be far more common than we'd like to think, so we've asked the government to provide any records it has documenting the practice.
... parallel construction has been used to cover up some of the most notorious surveillance techniques in the past decade. It initially captured the public's attention in August 2013, when Reuters published an article scrutinizing the elusive Drug Enforcement Administration Special Operations Division's use of the practice. Parallel construction received renewed attention this past May, when a non-disclosure agreement between the FBI and the Oklahoma City Police Department was released through a state records request. The non-disclosure agreement governs the use of cell site simulators—colloquially known as "stingrays"—and requires that the Oklahoma City Police Department use the technology for "lead purposes only," further explaining that the agency must "use additional and independent investigative means and methods . . . that would be admissible at trial" in lieu of disclosing to the defendant the fact that a stingray device was used.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 19 2016, @09:11PM
My own take was that the country always had good PR about liberty and did an awfully good job at brainwashing the populace that it was true, but after you see it in action for a few decades, you realize the claims fall short of the reality.
To be clear, parallel construction has had a LONG history, but recently has been codified which where the hand-wringing comes in.
Good on the ACLU, but the main point -that law enforcement shouldn't be doing these things- gets lost in the admissibility of evidence arguments instead of charging police with criminal conduct, full stop.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday July 19 2016, @09:21PM
> the country always had good PR about liberty and did an awfully good job at brainwashing the populace that it was true
After all those years, I still can't stand watching kids say the Pledge every morning, and I feel uneasy about the bloody Song and insane number of Flags showing up everywhere.
Gotta be from growing up surrounded by people who had lots of experience of how the 30s turned into the 40s...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 19 2016, @09:35PM
I hate every flag I see
I want to burn every one to the ground
But I hate censorship even more
And they have free speech just like me
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday July 21 2016, @02:56AM
Oh for sure, there are plenty of screwed up things that go on. Still, there is a huge difference between shady dealings and open dictatorship. Erdogan's recent actions are a move towards dictatorship, as long as such dealings are hidden then it is the standard corruption that all countries face and must be rooted out individually. Once they are done openly, that is when you know the country has lost its way.
We have taken some open steps towards a dark path, TSA and Gitmo being the most visible. However the population has only been angered by these things and resents the restrictions on their freedoms. The experiment of dictatorship seems to be failing in the US, but I'm just a lowly peon so my opinion isn't worth much.
~Tilting at windmills~