US DC: We Fucking Own Your Ass

[grarpamp]

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/10/24/2040252/electronic-surveillance-up-500-in-dc-area-since-2011-almost-all-sealed-cases
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/us-courts-electronic-surveillance-up-500-percent-in-dc-area-since-2011-almost-all-sealed-cases/2016/10/22/48693ffa-8f10-11e6-9c52-0b10449e33c4_story.html

Washington Post: Secret law enforcement requests to conduct electronic
surveillance in domestic criminal cases have surged in federal courts
for Northern Virginia and the District, but only one in a thousand of
the applications ever becomes public, newly released data show. The
bare-bones release by the courts leaves unanswered how long, in what
ways and for what crimes federal investigators tracked individuals'
data and whether long-running investigations result in charges. In
Northern Virginia, electronic surveillance requests increased 500
percent in the past five years, from 305 in 2011 to a pace set to pass
1,800 this year. Only one of the total 4,113 applications in those
five years had been unsealed as of late July, according to information
from the Alexandria division of the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia, which covers northern Virginia. The
report adds: "The federal court for the District of Columbia had 235
requests in 2012, made by the local U.S. attorney's office. By 2013,
requests in the District had climbed 240 percent, to about 564,
according to information released by the court's chief judge and
clerk. Three of the 235 applications from 2012 have been unsealed. The
releases from the Washington-area courts list applications by law
enforcement to federal judges asking to track data -- but not
eavesdrop -- on users' electronic communications. That data can
include sender and recipient information, and the time, date, duration
and size of calls, emails, instant messages and social media messages,
as well as device identification numbers and some website
information."