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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Homeland Security may have violated privacy of activists

FOI at Work!
Via an FOIA request, The Washington Post obtained an e-mail indicating that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security forwarded information about a Washington area anti-war group to Maryland State Police.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security tracked peaceful activists using information shared with the Maryland State Police, government documents show.

Maryland's two senators, Democrats Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, and civil libertarians are worried that privacy rules may have been violated by revelations in documents obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported Tuesday.

E-mail obtained by the newspaper indicate Homeland Security was able to track the 2005 protest plans of a peaceful Washington area anti-war group based on information shared with the Maryland State Police, whose spying activities on the DC Anti-War Network, or DAWN, have drawn much criticism.
More here.

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