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The FBI is releasing dozens of investigative files involving civil rights-era photographer Ernest Withers as part of a lawsuit with The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., CNN reports.

Among the files is an investigation of Martin Luther King Jr. while in Memphis in 1968, CNN reported.

The bureau also examined the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and peace and black power movements.

The files are expected to shed light on how deeply the FBI probed the lives of civil rights leaders.

The newspaper won the right to examine the records after reaching a settlement under the Freedom of Information Act.

Steve Neavling

Aaron Swartz, an online activist who committed suicide last month, was being closely tracked by the FBI, Salon reports.

Records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show agents monitored the 26-year-old’s activity on the internet and collected information on even banal online activity, Salon wrote.

The probe began when the FBI suspected Swartz of downloading millions of albums.

Although it was determined he committed no crime by downloading the albums, he came under fire and was charged in connection with downloading millions of academic articles.

Steve Neavling

 A Tennessee death row inmate has been denied access to FBI records that he says would overturn his 1998 conviction for the murder of a Memphis motel clerk, the Associated Press reports.

A federal appeals court reaffirmed the FBI’s right to redact information under the Freedom of Information Act.

The redacted records, inmate Michael Dale Rimmer argues, contain information from witnesses who said he was the wrong suspect, the AP reported.

But the FBI won its argument that the names of those witnesses aren’t important enough to trump the privacy rights of witnesses, the AP wrote.

 Steve Neavling

Journalist and author Seth Rosenfeld spent a lot of time and money digging up FBI records since the mid-1980s, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The FBI’s refusal to turn over records turned out to be costly after a judge ruled last week that the bureau owed Rosenfeld nearly a half million dollars in attorney fees for violating the Freedom of Information Act in 1990 and 2007.

Rosenfeld, a tough critic of the bureau, was seeking records on the FBI’s covert operations at the University of California Berkeley and its odd relationship with President Ronald Reagan.

Rosenfeld recently published his book, “Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power.”

The FBI said it had planned to turn over the information but was slow in doing so, the Chronicle reported.

STORIES OF OTHER INTEREST

• Virgina Leads Nation with More Than 30,000 Registered Machine Guns
• Column: FBI’s Track Record Could Hamper Prosecution of Bulger
• Authorities Investigate Triple Murder at Milwaukee Salon
• Constitutional Concerns Raised in Expansion of DNA Collection

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 A log of complaints against Secret Service employees shows a variety of misconduct, including an allegation that an agent was intoxicated while he was supposed to be protecting a foreign leader, Bloomberg News reports.

The federal government released the 229-page log this weekend in response to a Freedom of Information Act by news organizations following accusations that federal agents were consorting with prostitutes while preparing for President Barack Obama’s arrival in Columbia in April.

Logs show other cases of prostitution, Bloomberg reports.

By Danny Fenster

The website Truthout has reported on some unflattering FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) practices Tuesday morning.

The site claims that the FBI regularly engages in the “blackballing” of files–returning a “no records” response to FOIA requests when in fact the records do exists.

An interesting story, particularly for those seeking FBI files.

To read more click here.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST:

• Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Stolen ATF Badge (WOWK-TV)
• Two Kansas Police Officers Plead Guilty in FBI Sting (KCTV5)
• Pinkberry Co-Founder Arrested in Beating of Homeless Man (FOX)
• Search Warrant Details Inert Bomb Parts Found in Fla. Man’s Car (Tampa Bay Online)
• FBI: Mortgage Fraud a Growing Problem in Colorado (Colorado Springs Gazette)
• State and Local Officials to Meet at White House to Discuss Anti-Terrorism Tactics (AP)
• FBI Wants 142-Year for Russian Hacker Family Head (RT)

By Danny Fenster

Is a company entitled to know if the software it produces is being used by the FBI?

The FBI says No.

Carrier IQ, a Mountain View, Calif.-based tech company, aggravated many when news got out that it had installed tracking software on millions of peoples’ cell phones without their knowledge, and that it was capable of recording large amounts of user information including sites visited and even passwords entered on secure sites. The information could be sent to the cellphone carriers or Carrier IQ.

On Monday, it was announced that Carrier IQ’s  Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI was denied.  The company wanted to known if the bureau was using its software to gather information or manuals or other materials it produces.

The FOIA request was filed Dec. 1 by Michael Morisy, co-founder of MuckRock, a website that helps people file FOIA requests with the government, according to Computerworld.

The bureau responded by saying that, while they had documents pertinent to the request, releasing them would endanger ongoing investigations.

“What is still unclear is whether the FBI used Carrier IQ’s software in its own investigations, whether it is currently investigating Carrier IQ, or whether it is some combination of both – not unlikely given the recent uproar over the practice coupled with the U.S. intelligence communities reliance on third-party vendors,” Muckrock wrote on its website.

Muckrock said it  plans to appeal the FBI’s denial for the material.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST:

• Court to Weigh Immigration Arizona Statute on Immigration (NYT)
• Mexican Drug War Heats Up (PolicyMic)
• Explosion of Suspicious Package Kills One (KOINlocal6.com)
• FBI Says Hackers Hit Key Services in 3 Cities (BBC)
• Mike McPheters is an FBI Agent Turned Novelist (Desert News)
• New Utah U.S. Attorney Vows that Justice be Done (Main Justice)

It’s not often that the liberal American Civil Liberties Union and conservative Judicial Watch agree on anything, but the Obama administration’s lack of transparency has brought the two together.

Obama’s Justice Department has proposed a regulatory change that would weaken the Freedom of Information Act. Under the new rules, the government could falsely respond to those who file FOIA requests that a document does not exist if it pertains to an ongoing criminal investigation, concerns a terrorist organization, or a counterintelligence operation involving a foreign nation.

There are two problems with the Obama proposal to allow federal officials to affirmatively assert that a requested document doesn’t exist when it does. First, by not citing a specific exemption allowed under the FOIA as grounds for denying a request, the proposal would cut off a requestor from appealing to the courts.

To read more click here.