[quote]WASHINGTON – A community college student who says he's never done anything that should attract the interest of federal law enforcement officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the FBI for secretly putting a GPS tracking device on his car.
Yasir Afifi, 20, says a mechanic doing an oil change on his car in October discovered the device stuck with magnets between his right rear wheel and exhaust. They weren't sure what it was, but Afifi had the mechanic remove it and a friend posted photos of it online to see whether anyone could identify it. Two days later, Afifi says, agents wearing bullet-proof vests pulled him over as he drove away from his apartment in San Jose, Calif., and demanded their property back.
Afifi's lawsuit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims the FBI violated his civil rights by putting the device on his car without a warrant. His lawyers say Afifi, who was born in the United States, was targeted because of his extensive ties to the Middle East — he travels there frequently, helps support two brothers who live in Egypt, and his father was a well-known Islamic-American community leader who died last year in Egypt.
FBI Spokesman Michael Kortan declined to discuss the lawsuit or the agency's investigation into Afifi, but said, "The FBI conducts investigations under well-established Department of Justice and FBI guidelines that determine what investigative steps or techniques are appropriate. Those guidelines also ensure the protection of civil and constitutional rights."
Afifi, who is a business marketing major at Mission College and works as a computer salesman, said at a news conference to announce the suit that the agents never gave him a clear answer as to why he was being monitored.
"I'm sure I have done nothing wrong to provoke anyone's interest," Afifi said, although he noted that his family is from Egypt, he's a young man and he makes a lot of calls overseas. "So I'm sure I fit their profile."
Judges have disagreed over whether search warrants should be required for GPS tracking. Afifi's lawyers say they are filing this lawsuit in hopes of a decision saying that any use of tracking devices without a warrant in the United States is unconstitutional.
The federal appeals court in the Washington circuit where Afifi's case was filed ruled in August that the collection of GPS data amounts to a government "search" that required a warrant. The Obama administration asked the court to change its ruling, calling the decision "vague and unworkable" and arguing that investigators will lose access to a tool they now use "with great frequency."
The lawsuit says the agents who showed up to collect the device were "hostile," threatening to charge Afifi if he didn't immediately cooperate and refusing his request to have a lawyer present. The suit also says agents showed they knew private details about his life, such as which restaurants he dined at, the new job he'd just obtained and his plans to travel abroad.
"At first I was really confused," Afifi said at the news conference, adding that he finally decided to turn over the GPS. "I did give it back to them after a lot of pressure."[/quote]
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110303/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants[/url]
Glad to know how discriminative our law enforcement is towards moose-lim, middle-easterners.
:patriot:
/sarcasm
If anyone here goes to reddit, Yasir originally posted it their.
[url=http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dmh5s/does_this_mean_the_fbi_is_after_us/]One[/url]
[url=http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/doe17/update_to_does_this_mean_the_fbi_is_after_us/]Two[/url]
Accidentally double-posted.
Clocks.
Also it isn't exactly unwarranted. There is sort of a reason for a [i]bit[/i] of suspicion since he makes a lot of oversea calls to an area under a load of pressure and conflict.
[QUOTE=stupidass;28413630]Clocks.
Also it isn't exactly unwarranted. There is sort of a reason for a [i]bit[/i] of suspicion since he makes a lot of oversea calls to an area under a load of pressure and conflict.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. It's not racism or profiling in this case, this is probably what caught their attention, however our government is too goddamned paranoid.
land of the free..
if you're rich, white, straight, christian, and male :patriot:
[QUOTE=yuki;28413668]Agreed. It's not racism or profiling in this case, this is probably what caught their attention, however our government is too goddamned paranoid.[/QUOTE]
In a way they do need to stop being paranoid.
But I mean as long as you aren't doing anything bad you should have nothing to worry about, it is mainly just to promote safety incase someone actually is doing something bad.
[QUOTE=stupidass;28413630]Clocks.
Also it isn't exactly unwarranted. There is sort of a reason for a [I]bit[/I] of suspicion since he makes a lot of oversea calls to an area under a load of pressure and conflict.[/QUOTE]
People have family all over the world. Well that about explains most people calling overseas to a area under a load of pressure and conflict.
It isn't a reason to track his car. Now say they did a wire tap that would make sense.
[QUOTE=DELL;28413693]People have family all over the world. Well that about explains most people calling overseas to a area under a load of pressure and conflict.[/QUOTE]
Even if they do, how does the Government know they are talking to their family if they don't find out in some way?
They research. Which is what they were obviously doing here.
The way I see it, he made a load of calls frequently and it threw up sort of a red flag. Considering the FBI wasn't currently monitoring his calls they decided to follow him around to see if he did anything abnormal - Since they didn't know who he was calling.
Percentages are all that matters for any Government. If 50% of a population is anti-democracy, or are complete anarchist or terrorist then they are going to be cautious about things going on in their own country involving said country. You can play the 'Well not all people there are terrorist' but considering it is an area of conflict, and percentages prove that fact, it doesn't mean shit.
[quote]The lawsuit says the agents who showed up to collect the device were "hostile," threatening to charge Afifi if he didn't immediately cooperate and refusing his request to have a lawyer present. The suit also says agents showed they knew private details about his life, such as which restaurants he dined at, the new job he'd just obtained and his plans to travel abroad.
"At first I was really confused," Afifi said at the news conference, adding that he finally decided to turn over the GPS. "I did give it back to them after a lot of pressure."[/quote]
:colbert:
fuck this country
fuck it
gonna move to canada someday
[QUOTE=noobcake;28413760]:colbert:
fuck this country
fuck it
gonna move to canada someday[/QUOTE]
I imagine the agents thought he purposly removed the GPS tracker to avoid them finding something. That would warrant their actions.
Plus they're cops, so it is a given they are gonna' be assholes.
[QUOTE=stupidass;28413798]I imagine the agents thought he purposly removed the GPS tracker to avoid them finding something. That would warrant their actions.
Plus they're cops, so it is a given they are gonna' be assholes.[/QUOTE]
agents wearing bullet-proof vests does not mean cops
[editline]3rd March 2011[/editline]
means the f mother fucking bi
I hope he wins
[editline]3rd March 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=stupidass;28413798]I imagine the agents thought he purposly removed the GPS tracker to avoid them finding something. That would warrant their actions.
Plus they're cops, so it is a given they are gonna' be assholes.[/QUOTE]
your username really fits
[QUOTE=stupidass;28413690]But I mean as long as you aren't doing anything bad[/QUOTE]
Stopped reading here.
[QUOTE=JDK721;28413684]land of the free..
if you're rich, white, straight, christian, and male :patriot:[/QUOTE]
You're a horrible poster.
Probable clause my ass, this is racial profiling
[QUOTE=Mr_Razzums;28413932]You're a horrible poster.[/QUOTE]
it's true
deny it all you want like a typical conservative though
[QUOTE=JDK721;28413684]land of the free..
if you're rich, white, straight, christian, and male :patriot:[/QUOTE]
You realize it's going and has been going the other way for a long time, right? If anything, people falling into any one of those descriptions (God help you if you're more than one) get the short end of the stick more and more these days.
Frankly, I think it's funny you, not a US citizen, someone who's lived here for any length of time, or having any real inside understanding of America, is telling us how we are.
[QUOTE=Jenkem;28414647]If anything, people falling into any one of those descriptions (God help you if you're more than one)[/QUOTE]
Ignore the fact that you're already at least 2 of those things...
That is, unless, you're a lesbian, jewish, black woman.
[QUOTE=Mr_Razzums;28413932]You're a horrible poster.[/QUOTE]
This would not have happened if the person in the article was all of the things that JDK mentioned so he's right and you're the horrible poster
[QUOTE=Zeke129;28414889]This would not have happened if the person in the article was all of the things that JDK mentioned so he's right and you're the horrible poster[/QUOTE]
No
[editline]4th March 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=JDK721;28414412]it's true
deny it all you want like a typical conservative though[/QUOTE]
Ahahahhahahaha conservative ahahahahhaa.
[editline]4th March 2011[/editline]
You're an idiot.
[editline]4th March 2011[/editline]
And a horrible poster
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Flaming" - Starpluck))[/highlight]
This is why I dont live in the United States. Oh god Starpluck and gang are at it again. ^ I find it kind of funny how he got banned for calling somebody a idiot when it happens 24/7 on this forum.
[QUOTE=stupidass;28413798]Plus they're cops, so it is a given they are gonna' be assholes.[/QUOTE]
"Plus they're from the middle east, so it is a given they are gonna' be terrorists." :downs:
Stereotyping is bad, no matter what group you're stereotyping against.
Well even if they took his origins and religion into consideration, what does it matter? The truth is that Islamic immigrants are the source of a lot of terrorism. It's not discriminatory, it's pattern matching. You'd be an idiot to completely ignore it just to be politically correct and avoid offending a few people. If a computer were to run a pattern matching program to point out likely terrorists, it would no doubt output a load of people of arabic origins. That doesn't mean they are terrorists, but I would be surprised if it wasn't statisitically more likely for a Muslim of middle eastern background living in the west to be a terrorist than a western european.
Quite frankly I'd rather a few people got all offended and started bawwing about how the government is discriminatory than stuff get blown up and people die.
[editline]4th March 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=yuki;28413668]Agreed. It's not racism or profiling in this case, this is probably what caught their attention, however our government is too goddamned paranoid.[/QUOTE]
Too paranoid? How exactly would you know how paranoid they are? How many cases of terrorism do they [I]prevent[/I]?
It's their caution and investigation that stops bad shit going down.
[QUOTE=Jallen;28417791]Well even if they took his origins and religion into consideration, what does it matter? The truth is that Islamic immigrants are the source of a lot of terrorism. It's not discriminatory, it's pattern matching. You'd be an idiot to completely ignore it just to be politically correct and avoid offending a few people. If a computer were to run a pattern matching program to point out likely terrorists, it would no doubt output a load of people of arabic origins. That doesn't mean they are terrorists, but I would be surprised if it wasn't statisitically more likely for a Muslim of middle eastern background living in the west to be a terrorist than a western european.
Quite frankly I'd rather a few people got all offended and started bawwing about how the government is discriminatory than stuff get blown up and people die.
[editline]4th March 2011[/editline]
Too paranoid? How exactly would you know how paranoid they are? How many cases of terrorism do they [I]prevent[/I]?
It's their caution and investigation that stops bad shit going down.[/QUOTE]
Almost none, and take TSA for example, has stopped exactly zero, if someone wants to get something past them, they will, hell, people even gets stuff on planes on accident, like adam savage took several 12 inch steel blades.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8N2EZSpFco[/media]
Didn't one of your founding fathers say "He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither"?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
