The FBI used fake emergencies to force phone carriers to hand over user data and let them listen to conversations
The FBI violated the law in collecting thousands of U.S. telephone records during the Bush administration, The Washington Post reported Monday. Citing internal memos and interviews, the Post said the FBI invoked nonexistent terrorism emergencies or persuaded phone companies to provide information as it illegally gathered more than 2,000 records between 2002 and 2006. WaPo: FBI broke law for years in phone record searches.