Easy Access

      It was recently revealed that the United States Justice Department collected two months woth of telephone records from the editors and reporters at The Associated Press, one of the largest news agencies in the world. Today, the AP sent a letter to Attorney General, Eric Holder, expressing their outrage. AP president, Gary Pruitt called the subpoena for the phone records a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into it's reporting. The reason this information is so sensitive is that it will reveal multiple confidential sources and news-gathering operations of the press. The government has not disclosed exactly why they need this information. They have claimed that theu are trying to figure out how details of a foiled bomb plot that targeted a plane bound for the U.S. were leaked in May of 2012.
     The government has collected information from 20 different AP phone numbers that includes personal numbers too. Pruitt also stated that he believes that the "action by the Justice Department (is) a serious interference with AP's constitutional right to gather and report the news." He wants all of the collected records returned and all copies destroyed. The government states that while they value freedom of the press, it must be balanced against the national interest. In this case, the government was concerned that the leaking of state secrets would endanger future U.S. operations. Ben Wizner, the head of the A.C.L.U's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project said: "Freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy, and that freedom often depends on confidential communications between reporters and their sources." If the government can easily expand their surveillance to include the press as well as ordinary citizens, there is nothing that they aren't watching. http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/13/us/justice-ap-phones/index.html?hpt=hp_t1