Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fear

Kids might not know they're sharing private details with the public.

By Jessica Guynn

February 23, 2010

Parents and privacy watchdogs are sounding the alarm that Google Inc.'s new social networking tool, called Buzz, may put children at risk.

The concern came home in a personal way for technology analyst Charlene Li. On Sunday night she discovered that her 9-year-old daughter had publicly shared a private conversation on Buzz without intending to. Li grew even more troubled when she spotted her daughter's fourth-grade classmates chatting with strangers.

She turned off Buzz and alerted other parents and her child's school, which in turn alerted other parents. Then Li, an analyst who tracks Google as well as other Internet companies, took to the Web to spread the word.

"These are fourth-graders who have no clue," Li wrote in a blog post. "Imagine parents (and kids) checking out their Buzz accounts to find that 'iorgyinbathrooms' is following them, which is exactly what happened with my child's account."

Google had already drawn sharp criticism from privacy watchdogs for the way it rolled out Buzz in millions of Gmail accounts. Privacy expert Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University, urged the Federal Trade Commission to address the potential risks to kids.

"Google Buzz is a new danger zone for children," Montgomery said.

Google said it had no specific plans to tweak Buzz in response to parents' privacy concerns. In a statement, spokesman Scott Rubin said: "We designed Buzz to make it easy to have conversations with your friends about the things that interest you. Keeping kids safe online is very important to us."

It can also be tricky. Privacy watchdogs have successfully hounded social networks in the past for not taking sufficient steps to protect children from predators and other dangers. By adding Buzz to its popular e-mail service, Google has brought new attention to how kids use Gmail and raised questions about how they may use it.

Google, like the social networking site Facebook, does not permit children younger than 13 to open Gmail accounts. That complies with the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires websites that collect information from children younger than 13 to get consent from a parent.

In addition, law enforcement officials have pushed social networking sites to confirm the identities and ages of young users.

University of Maryland law professor Danielle Citron said Google is not legally required to confirm the ages of Buzz users, but should.

Citron's two children, 9 and 11, became fascinated by Buzz during the recent snowstorms. "It was utterly amazing how they had no idea what they were sharing," Citron said.

Like many other Internet-savvy parents, Citron said she is vigilant about keeping her kids off Facebook and MySpace and has frequent conversations with them about the risks of exposing too much personal information online.

But Citron said she was unprepared a few weeks ago when Buzz popped up in her children's Gmail accounts.

"This is foisted on children and they love it," Citron said. "And it's really dangerous."

Li said she also worries that even if parents disable Buzz, kids can turn it back on. And they may not understand how to manage the privacy settings to stay safe, given that adults have been confused by the settings.

She wants Google to add parental controls to Gmail. And she is urging parents to discuss Buzz with their kids because she fears that predators are already lurking there.

"I just want the kids to be safe," she said.

Google said it has the same goal. "We think it's important to remember that there's no substitute for parental supervision to keep kids safe on the Internet," Rubin said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google-privacy23-2010feb23,0,2760750,print.story

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Guilty plea in New York terrorism case

Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant who had been living in Colorado, tells a judge he was planning a suicide bombing in the city. He says he was angry about casualties in Afghanistan.

By Tina Susman and Richard A. Serrano

February 23, 2010

Reporting from Washington and New York Richard A. Serrano -- An Afghan immigrant admitted to a federal judge Monday that he was so enraged by U.S. military actions in Afghanistan that he attended an Al Qaeda training camp and planned to commit a suicide bombing in New York -- possibly on the subway -- to protest the war.

The plot was thwarted in September after the immigrant, Najibullah Zazi, began to fear that police were trailing him and left the city, but Zazi's chilling statement during a plea hearing in federal court suggested that it came close to fruition.

"The plan was to conduct a martyrdom operation . . . as soon as materials were ready," said Zazi, 25, after he pleaded guilty to three counts that could put him in prison for life.

The charges included conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. targets; conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country; and providing material support for a foreign terrorism organization -- in this case, Al Qaeda.

Asked by U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie to explain exactly what the martyrdom operation would have entailed, Zazi replied, "To me, it meant I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the U.S. military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan."

The purpose, he said, was to "sacrifice my soul for the sake of others."

In Washington, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. called the case "one of the most serious threats to our nation since Sept. 11, 2001."

"This attempted attack on our homeland was real, it was in motion, and it would have been deadly," Holder said.

Zazi's guilty plea came five months after his arrest in Denver and suggested he was prepared to provide information on alleged co-conspirators.

"The criminal justice system also contains powerful incentives to induce pleas that yield long sentences and gain intelligence that can be used in the fight against Al Qaeda," Holder said at a news conference.

Zazi's lawyer, William Stampur, refused to comment when asked why his client decided to plead guilty. The Associated Press reported that Zazi was swayed by law enforcement officials' warnings that his mother could face criminal charges related to immigration issues.

The plea agreement was sealed.

Holder used the Zazi case to strengthen his argument -- one embraced by the White House -- that terrorists should be prosecuted in civilian courts in this country.

Holder recently had to reconsider his plan to try the top Sept. 11 plotters, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, in New York City because of an outcry by conservatives who say it would be too costly and too dangerous to have such a trial so close to where the attack took place.

"In this case, as it has in so many other cases, the criminal justice system has proved to be an invaluable weapon for disrupting plots and incapacitating terrorists," the attorney general said.

In court, Zazi, who attended high school in Queens, N.Y., spoke lightly accented English as he confessed in a calm and polite demeanor.

He addressed Dearie as "sir" and "your honor" as the judge explained the ramifications of a guilty plea and sought to ensure that Zazi understood the process.

Zazi, whose thick black beard was neatly trimmed and whose hands were uncuffed, spoke in a clear, dispassionate tone.

The transition from airport shuttle driver in Colorado -- the job Zazi had when he was arrested -- to would-be terrorist came in spring and summer 2008, Zazi said in a statement.

According to his account, Zazi and his co-conspirators -- whom authorities have not yet named -- met up in Queens and discussed their opposition to the war in Afghanistan.

In particular, Zazi said, they were bitter over the deaths of civilians in his homeland -- an issue that has become a major concern of U.S. military commanders as they try to win public support from Afghans for major anti-Taliban offensives.

Zazi said he and his co-conspirators decided "to join the Taliban -- to fight alongside the Taliban against the United States."

"We agreed to this plan. I did so because of my feelings about what the U.S. was doing in Afghanistan," he said.

The first step was to travel to Pakistan, which they did in August 2008. But before Zazi could join the Taliban, he was recruited by Al Qaeda and sent to a training camp in Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

While there, Zazi said in court, he took notes on bomb-making instructions and e-mailed them to himself for future reference. He and his trainers discussed locations for future attacks, which included the New York subways.

After he returned to the United States in January 2009, Zazi said, he accessed his e-mailed notes and began researching places to purchase bomb-making supplies.

His research led him to beauty supply stores in the Denver suburb of Aurora, where he stocked up on items such as acetone and hydrogen peroxide. They are among the ingredients used to make triacetone triperoxide, the explosive that Zazi had planned to use in his attack.

Zazi, equipped with his supplies, then drove to New York, where he arrived Sept. 10 to undertake the suicide bombing as soon as materials were ready, he said in court.

Instead, Zazi began suspecting that police were watching him, so he got rid of the materials and flew back to Colorado, where he was arrested Sept. 19.

The guilty plea was the latest twist in a case that FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole said Monday "illustrated the evolving nature of the terrorist threat," involving international travel and training on foreign soil to carry out attacks on domestic targets.

In January, two more men who were classmates of Zazi when he attended high school in Queens were arrested in New York in connection with the case.

One of them, Adis Medunjanin, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit murder on foreign soil, a charge prosecutors say involves plans to fight the U.S. military in Afghanistan. The other, Zarein Ahmedzay, was charged with lying to authorities and has pleaded not guilty.

Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, and a Queens imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, also were arrested in connection with the case, but neither has been accused of direct involvement in the plot. Both have been freed on bail after pleading not guilty to charges that include lying to authorities.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-zazi23-2010feb23,0,6833170,print.story

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Obama lays out goals on healthcare

His $950-billion blueprint would raise some taxes and cut Medicare spending, and it challenges GOP leaders to offer an alternative.

By Noam N. Levey

February 23, 2010

Reporting from Washington

In an 11th-hour bid to rally Democrats behind a sweeping healthcare overhaul, President Obama offered his own detailed plan Monday that would expand coverage, tighten regulation of the insurance industry and seek greater efficiencies in the nation's medical system.

The 10-year $950-billion blueprint -- released by the White House three days before a healthcare summit with congressional Democrats and Republicans -- would also raise a variety of taxes and cut Medicare spending while reducing the federal deficit by $100 billion.

In unveiling the plan, the White House also challenged GOP leaders to offer an alternative. But with Republicans firmly against any major healthcare legislation, the president's primary task is unifying House and Senate Democrats.

After Democrats recently lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, Democratic leaders and the White House hope the House will approve the bill that has already passed the Senate -- along with separate legislation incorporating changes suggested by Obama on Monday to address concerns by House Democrats.

"The real goal here has to be to resolve differences among Democrats," said veteran Democratic strategist Paul Begala. "The Republican leadership is more likely to perform a gay marriage than they are to work with Democrats on healthcare."

GOP leaders swiftly condemned the president's latest proposal, which House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) called a "new Democrats-only backroom deal" that "doubles down on the same failed approach."

Republicans have called on Obama to scrap the current bill and pursue more limited legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) met with rank-and-file House Democrats on Monday evening to discuss the president's proposal.

Among other issues, she faces the challenge of winning over representatives who want tighter restrictions on abortion funding than those in the Senate bill.

Senate Democrats are slated to discuss healthcare when they meet for their weekly luncheon Tuesday.

White House officials and Democratic congressional leaders have been working on the two-stage strategy in which the House would vote on the Senate bill and both chambers would separately pass a package of changes.

The package could also include traditional Republican healthcare priorities, including new efforts to clamp down on waste and fraud in government healthcare programs.

The extent to which GOP ideas are incorporated could depend on the outcome of Thursday's summit.

Even without GOP support, Democrats believe that the package could be advanced through a process known as budget reconciliation, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60-vote supermajority necessary to squash a filibuster.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said Monday that no decision had been made about using budget reconciliation. But he said the president's proposal was developed with that option in mind.

"The president expects, and believes the American people deserve, an up or down vote on health reform," Pfeiffer said. "The package is designed to provide us the flexibility to achieve that if the Republican party decides to filibuster health reform."

Both parties have used budget reconciliation over the last 25 years to advance major domestic initiatives, including the 1996 overhaul of the nation's welfare system and the major tax cuts enacted by the Bush administration in 2001 and 2003. But it remains controversial, even with some Democrats.

Like the Senate bill, the centerpiece of the president's plan to expand coverage are new state insurance exchanges in which people who do not get coverage through work would be able to shop for plans. The federal government would oversee the plans, as it now does for members of Congress and other federal employees.

Additionally, the president would give the federal government new authority to regulate premiums charged by private insurers, a new proposal that the White House unveiled over the weekend in response to steep rate hikes in California and elsewhere in recent months.

Under Obama's proposal, the secretary of Health and Human Services would be able to block premium hikes deemed excessive under standards to be developed by a panel of experts.

That idea drew fire Monday from insurance industry officials, who said rate hikes nationally are being driven primarily by rising medical costs.

"Regulating premiums won't do anything to reduce the soaring costs of medical care," said Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's Washington-based lobbying arm. "This would be like capping the prices automakers can charge consumers, but letting the steel, rubber and technology manufacturers charge the automakers whatever they want."

Following the Senate's lead, the president did not include a new government insurance plan, or "public option," reflecting the idea's political delicacy.

Obama's plan also makes several other substantial changes to the Senate legislation, paralleling agreements hammered out by House and Senate Democratic leaders last month.

It would boost subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people buy insurance on the new state exchanges, a key demand of House Democrats. (The plan does include a national exchange as some House Democrats had wanted.)

Over the next decade, it would phase out the coverage gap in Medicare's drug benefit, known as the "doughnut hole."

It would provide additional federal aid to states to help them expand their Medicaid insurance programs for the poor and eliminate a provision in the Senate bill that provided special assistance to Nebraska in response to demands from that state's Democratic senator, Ben Nelson.

The president's plan would also scale back a tax on high-end "Cadillac" health plans that is a cornerstone of the Senate's healthcare bill.

Under the president's proposal, the tax would be imposed in 2018 -- rather than 2013 -- and would apply to individual plans worth more than $10,200 and family plans worth more than $27,500, up from $8,500 and $23,000, respectively, in the original bill.

The new subsidies and aid to seniors push up the cost of the bill above the $900-billion threshold identified by the president last year, although the bill still would reduce the deficit over the next decade, administration officials said.

To offset the new costs and lost revenue, the president has proposed increasing the Medicare payroll tax to 2.35% on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples earning more than $250,000.

And he would impose a new 2.9% Medicare tax on unearned income for these high-income taxpayers.

Obama also is proposing an additional $10 billion in taxes on drug makers to help close the doughnut hole, up from the $23 billion in the Senate bill.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-obama-healthcare23-2010feb23,0,1216517,print.story

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Man brought to L.A. to face charges in Cambodian sex case

A convicted sex offender who had traveled to Cambodia allegedly to have sex with a minor was returned to the United States to face trial in Los Angeles, the FBI said Monday night.

Michael James Dodd, 59, who taught English in Cambodia, had sex with a 14-year-old girl and was seen with her on several occasions in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, according to an affidavit for arrest filed in federal court.

In 2002, Dodd pleaded guilty in Saipan to five counts of sexual abuse of a child after he was accused of inappropriately touching 13 female students at an elementary school where he taught, an FBI agent said in the affidavit. Dodd served time in prison and was placed on probation for 15 years.

Agents in the FBI's Los Angeles office handled the case because they are working with the Cambodian government and non-governmental agencies to identify and prosecute U.S. citizens who travel to that country to have sex with minors, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Dodd is expected to appear Tuesday before a magistrate in federal court in Los Angeles.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Californian denied out-of-state liver transplant by Anthem Blue Cross to save money, lawyer says

Anthem Blue Cross refused to pay for one of its California members to get a liver transplant at an Indiana University hospital to save money, a lawyer for the patient told jurors Monday in a high-profile trial expected to shed light on how the insurance giant decides what medical care to cover--and what to deny.

"People buy insurance hoping they are never going to need it," lawyer Scott Glovsky told jurors in a downtown Los Angeles Superior Court. "And Blue Cross sells it hoping people will never need it. Why? Because they make more money."

In 2006, Blue Cross had approved a liver transplant for Ephram Nehme at the UCLA Medical Center. But, as Nehme's condition deteriorated, his UCLA physician told him he would die waiting for an available organ in California, and he recommended he go to a transplant center affiliated with Indiana University, where wait times are shorter.

Blue Cross refused to approve the surgery in Indiana. Nehme went to Indiana anyway, paying $205,000 out of pocket for the January 2007 surgery that saved his life. Now Nehme, 62, said he wants to change the way Blue Cross and other insurers do business.

In a statement, Anthem Blue Cross said it has approved more than 98.5% of all transplant requests since July 2004 and considers each one on a case-by-case basis. The company says consulting physicians reviewed Nehme's case and determined that it was not necessary for him to go to Indiana to expedite his surgery.

Jerry Flanagan, healthcare director for the Consumer Watchdog advocacy organization, said at a news conference outside the courthouse that Nehme's case was "Exhibit A" in insurance industry abuses that healthcare reform efforts must address.

He said insurers raise insurance rates and deny treatment to boost profit. Nehme said he has received a notice that his Blue Cross premiums are set to increase March 1 by 50%--from $1,000 to $1,500 a month.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/californian-denied-outofstate-liver-transplant-by-anthem-blue-cross-to-save-money-lawyer-claims.html#more

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From the Daily News

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Marijuana use by seniors goes up as boomers age

MIAMI - In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of red wine. A crisp copy of The New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.

Long a fixture among young people, use of the country's most popular illicit drug is now growing among the AARP set, as the massive generation of baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s and '70s grows older.

The number of people aged 50 and older reporting pot use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.

Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age. For many boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations, and they tried it decades ago.

Some have used it ever since, while others are revisiting the habit in retirement, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the aches and pains of aging.

Siegel walks with a cane and has arthritis in her back and legs. She finds marijuana has helped her sleep better than pills ever did. And she can't figure out why everyone her age isn't sharing a joint, too.

"They're missing a lot of fun and a lot of relief," she said.

Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change the laws.

"For the longest time, our political opponents were older Americans who were not familiar with marijuana and had lived through the `Reefer Madness' mentality and they considered marijuana a very dangerous drug," said Keith Stroup, the founder and lawyer of NORML, a marijuana advocacy group.

"Now, whether they resume the habit of smoking or whether they simply understand that it's no big deal and that it shouldn't be a crime, in large numbers they're on our side of the issue."

Each night, 66-year-old Stroup says he sits down to the evening news, pours himself a glass of wine and rolls a joint. He's used the drug since he was a freshman at Georgetown, but many older adults are revisiting marijuana after years away.

"The kids are grown, they're out of school, you've got time on your hands and frankly it's a time when you can really enjoy marijuana," Stroup said. "Food tastes better, music sounds better, sex is more enjoyable."

The drug is credited with relieving many problems of aging: aches and pains, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and so on. Patients in 14 states enjoy medical marijuana laws, but those elsewhere buy or grow the drug illegally to ease their conditions.

Among them is Perry Parks, 67, of Rockingham, N.C., a retired Army pilot who suffered crippling pain from degenerative disc disease and arthritis. He had tried all sorts of drugs, from Vioxx to epidural steroids, but found little success. About two years ago he turned to marijuana, which he first had tried in college, and was amazed how well it worked for the pain.

"I realized I could get by without the narcotics," Parks said, referring to prescription painkillers. "I am essentially pain free."

But there's also the risk that health problems already faced by older people can be exacerbated by regular marijuana use.

Older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy, smoking it increases the risk of heart disease and it can cause cognitive impairment, said Dr. William Dale, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

He said he'd caution against using it even if a patient cites benefits.

"There are other better ways to achieve the same effects," he said.

Pete Delany, director of applied studies at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said boomers' drug use defied stereotypes, but is important to address.

"When you think about people who are 50 and older you don't generally think of them as using illicit drugs - the occasional Hunter Thompson or the kind of hippie dippie guy that gets a lot of press maybe," he said. "As a nation, it's important to us to say, `It's not just young people using drugs it's older people using drugs."'

In conversations, older marijuana users often say they smoke in less social settings than when they were younger, frequently preferring to enjoy the drug privately. They say the quality (and price) of the drug has increased substantially since their youth and they aren't as paranoid about using it.

Dennis Day, a 61-year-old attorney in Columbus, Ohio, said when he used to get high, he wore dark glasses to disguise his red eyes, feared talking to people on the street and worried about encountering police. With age, he says, any drawbacks to the drug have disappeared.

"My eyes no longer turn red, I no longer get the munchies," Day said. "The primary drawbacks to me now are legal."

Siegel bucks the trend as someone who was well into her 50s before she tried pot for the first time. She can muster only one frustration with the drug.

"I never learned how to roll a joint," she said. "It's just a big nuisance. It's much easier to fill a pipe."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14451152

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From the Department of Justice

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Earlier this afternoon, Najibullah Zazi, a citizen of Afghanistan and permanent legal resident of the United States, pleaded guilty in New York to three criminal charges. He admitted to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to Al Qaeda.

Zazi has admitted that he brought TATP explosives to New York on Sept. 10th, 2009, and that he and others intended to detonate them on board the New York subway system. This was one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11th, 2001, and were it not for the combined efforts of the law enforcement and intelligence communities, it could have been devastating. This attempted attack on our homeland was real, it was in motion, and it would have been deadly. We were able to thwart this plot because of careful analysis by our intelligence agents and prompt actions by law enforcement. They deserve our thanks and praise.

Zazi traveled to Pakistan in August 2008 with plans to join the Taliban in fighting against the United States and our allied forces in Afghanistan. Shortly after arriving, however, he was recruited by members of Al Qaeda who transported him to the Waziristan region of Pakistan and urged him to launch a suicide attack in the United States, which he agreed to do.

While still in Pakistan, Zazi plotted extensively with members of Al Qaeda in planning this attack. Al Qaeda operatives trained him in how to construct the explosives he would use, and they discussed potential targets, including the New York subway system. Zazi took detailed notes during his training, and even emailed himself a summary of those notes so he could access them when he returned to the United States.

Zazi returned to the United States in January 2009 and moved to Denver, Colorado. In June, he began reviewing the notes from his training and researching where to buy the chemicals needed for the explosives. He then traveled to New York to meet with others, discuss the timing of the attack and where to make the explosives.

Zazi then returned to Denver and began constructing the explosives. In July and August, he purchased large quantities of components necessary to produce TATP and twice checked into a hotel room near Denver, where bomb making residue was later found.

On September 8th, he set the final stages of the plan into motion, renting a car and driving from Denver to New York with the explosives and materials necessary to build the bombs. He arrived in New York on Thursday, September 10th with plans to use the weekend to obtain the final components necessary, assemble the bombs, and then launch an attack on the Manhattan subway lines on September 14th, 15th, or 16th.

Zazi was under surveillance throughout his trip. Once he learned of the investigation, he and others disposed of the explosives and other bomb making materials and he returned to Denver, where he was arrested on September 19th.

In this case, the combined efforts of the law enforcement and intelligence communities disrupted a major plot, and there is no doubt that they saved American lives. This investigation is ongoing, and we will continue to work around the clock both to bring others involved to justice and to obtain intelligence that we can use to disrupt further plots. With today's guilty plea, we have brought swift justice to one of the individuals involved in this plot, but we will not rest until everyone responsible is held accountable.

This plot is further evidence that Al Qaeda continues to plan attacks against the United States. We are at war against a dangerous, intelligent and adaptable enemy, and we must use every weapon available to win that war. In this case, as it has in so many other cases, the criminal justice system has proved to be an invaluable weapon for disrupting plots and incapacitating terrorists, one that works in concert with the intelligence community and our military. We will continue to use it to protect the American people from terrorism.

As I have stated on other occasions, the criminal justice system also contains powerful incentives to induce pleas that yield long sentences and gain intelligence that can be used in the fight against Al Qaeda. We will use all available tools whenever possible against suspected terrorists.

Finally, I would like to thank the members of the law enforcement and intelligence communities whose hard work disrupted this plot and continues to keep terrorists on the run both here and abroad, as well as the prosecutors and intelligence lawyers who have worked on this case. We all owe them a debt of gratitude for their service to this country.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100222.html

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From the FBI

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Inquiry into Lower Merion School District Activating Web Cams on Student Issued Computers

United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk announced today that the United States Attorney's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would be involved in the inquiry into allegations that the Lower Merion School District activated web cams on computers issued to students. Ordinarily, federal law enforcement agencies do not confirm the existence of an investigation. The Department of Justice does have an exception for matters that have already received substantial publicity, or where the community needs to be reassured that law enforcement is investigating the incident.

Levy said, “We intend to work as a team with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, the Montgomery County Detectives, and the Lower Merion Police Department to determine if any crimes were committed. The issues raised by these allegations are wide-ranging and involve the meeting of the new world of cyberspace with that of physical space. Our focus will only be on whether anyone committed any crimes. At this point, very few facts are known. Our first responsibility will be to conduct an orderly investigation to learn the facts. Only then, will we be able to make any judgments regarding violations of the laws. We do not intend to comment any further before our investigation is complete.”

http://philadelphia.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/ph022210a.htm

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