http://news.com.com/2100-1023-961955.html Appeals court OKs fax intercepts By Declan McCullagh October 14, 2002, 11:08 AM PT FBI agents were not overzealous when conducting electronic surveillance against members of anti-government group the Montana Freemen, a federal appeals court has ruled. In what appears to be the first decision dealing with fax interception, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said on Friday that police did not violate federal wiretap laws when spying on the group, whose key members were convicted in 1998 of bank fraud. Legal experts said the 3-0 ruling, a considerable victory for the government, reaffirms police abilities to seek court approval to snare e-mail--with little worries about running afoul of federal law. "Law enforcement is entitled to latitude to scrutinize messages by conspirators, because such messages may contain double meanings and implied purposes, or even be conveyed in secret code," the court wrote in a 22-page opinion. "We decline to adopt a rule that would require law enforcement to review conspirators' communications with a blind eye." [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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