Originally published Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Error gave FBI unauthorized e-mail access
A technical glitch gave the FBI access to the e-mail messages from an entire computer network — perhaps hundreds of accounts or more...
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — A technical glitch gave the FBI access to the e-mail messages from an entire computer network — perhaps hundreds of accounts or more — instead of simply the lone e-mail address that was approved by a secret intelligence court as part of a national security investigation, according to an internal report of the 2006 episode.
FBI officials blamed an "apparent miscommunication" with the unnamed Internet provider, which mistakenly turned over all the e-mail from a small e-mail domain for which it served as host. The records were ultimately destroyed, officials said.
Bureau officials noticed a "surge" in the e-mail activity they were monitoring and realized that the provider had mistakenly set its filtering equipment to trap far more data than a judge had actually authorized.
The episode is an unusual example of what has become a regular if little-noticed occurrence, as American officials have expanded their technological tools: government officials, or the private companies they rely on for surveillance operations, sometimes foul up their instructions about what they can and cannot collect.
The problem has received no discussion as part of the fierce debate in Congress about whether to expand the government's wiretapping authorities and give legal immunity to private telecommunications companies that have helped in those operations.
But an intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because surveillance operations are classified, said: "It's inevitable that these things will happen. It's not weekly, but it's common."
A report in 2006 by the Justice Department inspector general found more than 100 violations of federal wiretap law in the two prior years by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, many of them considered technical and inadvertent.
Bureau officials said they did not have updated public figures but were preparing them as part of a wider-ranging review by the inspector general into misuses of the bureau's authority to use so-called national-security letters in gathering phone records and financial documents in intelligence investigations.
In the warrantless-wiretapping program approved by President Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, technical errors led officials at the National Security Agency on some occasions to monitor communications entirely within the United States — in apparent violation of the program's protocols — because communications problems made it difficult to tell initially whether the targets were in the country or not.
Past violations by the government have also included continuing a wiretap for days or weeks beyond what was authorized by a court, or seeking records beyond what were authorized. The 2006 case appears to be a particularly egregious example of what intelligence officials refer to as "overproduction" — in which a telecommunications provider gives the government more data than it was ordered to provide.
The episode was disclosed as part of a new batch of internal documents that the FBI turned over to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit that advocates for greater digital-privacy protections, as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the group has brought. The group provided the documents on the 2006 episode to The New York Times.
Marcia Hofmann, a lawyer for the privacy foundation, said the episode raised troubling questions about the technical and policy controls that the FBI had in place to guard against civil liberties abuses.
"How do we know what the FBI does with all these documents when a problem like this comes up?" Hofmann asked.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Senate Democrats split on health bill's fate
UPDATE - 04:05 PM
SC gov faces 37 charges he broke state ethics laws
U.K. started planning early for war, leaked papers show
Vaccine to kill nicotine buzz now in late tests by small drug firm
India's feeling bruised even before White House visit

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
8 Drawer Dresser with Attached Mirror - $200
8 seat pecon formal dining table and china hutch - $1500
A American Table, Chairs and Bench - $275
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
Give yourself a treat and visit Watson Kennedy's Holiday Open Houses
More minding the store
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Contractors equipment and vehicle auction
- Pitch Black Weekend Sale at Mapel
- Karan Dannenberg Clothier Black Friday Sale
- Dish It Up! Totally Truffles
editors' picks
More shopping guides- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
328 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
200 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
170 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
137 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
93 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
81 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
78 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
70 - UW, WSU once again meet to see who's worse
64 - Ranking the Pac
53
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit

