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The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal(theguardian.com)
34 points by vinni2 a day ago | 10 comments
  • austin-cheney21 hours ago

    This is why US Army is forcing work related communications onto an employer owned instant message application.

    It may or may not be more secure, but it is privately owned and always official business. The employer can take legal action for improper disclosure of messages from that system. It also means other segments of government can never use these messages in any kind of legal proceeding without a prior valid search warrant.

    • dragonwriter16 hours ago |parent

      > US Army [...] employer owned instant message application [...] it is privately owned

      Uh, no. At least one of these things is not true.

      > It also means other segments of government can never use these messages in any kind of legal proceeding without a prior valid search warrant.

      Unless there is a special legal provision applicable to specifically this system, no, it doesn't. That certainly is not a consequence of being an employer-owned, for-official-business-only system of a government agency, in fact, it is the opposite of what that would generally means, which is that it is already government information from the start and law enforcement (federal or state) wouldn't need a warrant to use it against individuals. (This is separate from whatever process might be necessary if the Army preferred not to share it, for security or other instiutional, rather than Fourth Amendment, reasons.)

      • austin-cheney16 hours ago |parent

        That is incorrect. Soldiers in the Army have a implicit fourth amendment protection on all US Army data systems. To overcome that some data system owners require a signature on a policy statement that allows unrestricted monitoring. Those are often called user access agreements. I have been told the Air Force operates in the opposite.

        I am not sure what any of that has to do with state government access. From a legal perspective state government intrusion of a federal data system for evidence gathering is equivalent to a foreign nation. The federal government will happily share this information provided the proper administrative authorizations, but there is no unrestricted access.

  • BaudouinVH21 hours ago

    "The FBI’s report from August, prepared by its New York division, does not make clear how the bureau accessed the Signal group. "

    • HelloUsername21 hours ago |parent

      Has to be one of the three "they are directly included in the chat, are sent copies from a participant or have access to a member’s unlocked phone"

      • ratg1317 hours ago |parent

        option four, they used pegasus or similar to takeover the device with a 0 or 1-click installing memory resident malware

        • monerozcash18 minutes ago |parent

          That's exactly the same as option three.

  • bfkwlfkjf16 hours ago

    Does this mean that those saying that signal using phone numbers was wreckless, were right?

  • throawayonthe18 hours ago

    nooo you have to be nice to the gestapo noooooooo

  • bell-cot21 hours ago

    Um, yes? This kinda stuff has been FBI SOP for the past century-ish.

    If you are a "politically sensitive" activist group trying to make an actual difference (vs. performative and feel-good stuff) - then you should assume that the spooks are watching, if not actively infiltrating, and plan accordingly.

    (If your goals are mostly performative and feel-good - then having the FBI spying on your group is A List bragging rights and cred, no? Congratulations!)