The FBI says it sometimes gets the wrong number when it intercepts conversations in terrorism investigations, an admission critics say underscores a need to revise wiretap provisions in the Patriot Act.
The FBI would not say how often these mistakes happen. And, though any incriminating evidence mistakenly collected is not legally admissible in a criminal case, there is no way of knowing whether it is used to begin an investigation.
Parts of the Patriot Act, including a section on “roving wiretaps,” expire in December. Such wiretaps allow the FBI to get permission from a secret federal court to listen in on any phone line or monitor any Internet account that a terrorism suspect may be using, whether or not others who are not suspects also regularly use it.
Will the Republican Congress actually allow this "roving wiretap" provision of the PATRIOT Act to sunset? Not a chance. No spine. Police screw ups are overlooked by the Republican judiciary. Suppression of evidence for constitutional error would be "judicial activism," and that makes Republican judges cringe.
