However, since the original story was published about the incident, some details have come into question.
Still, if Michele Catalano’s story is true, it sheds light on how the continuing and expanding use of the PRISM program run by the National Security Agency (NSA), along with other surveillance programs, is manifesting itself in the lives of Americans.
Catalano’s story is especially interesting given Glenn Greenwald’s article, published yesterday, which revealed the NSA’s XKeyscore tool which collects “nearly everything a user does on the internet” with no prior authorization required for searches.
According to Catalano, a few weeks ago she had been doing some research on pressure cookers and her husband was looking for a backpack. Though such searches might have seemed innocent in the past, as she notes, “we are in ‘these times’ now.”
This apparently led to a 9 am visit from six law enforcement agents, allegedly from “the joint terrorism task force.”
The agents, dressed in casual clothes with “guns holstered in their waistbands”
did a cursory search around her house after flashing their badges and being allowed into their house by her husband.
Catalano’s story also reveals that the agents apparently knew her husband by name.
Catalano didn’t identify the agents any more precisely, though the FBI told the Guardian that she was actually visited by officers from the Nassau County police department “working in conjunction with Suffolk County police department.”
“From our understanding, both of those counties are involved,” FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser said.
Without elaborating, Langmesser said that it was Suffolk County that initiated the action and Nassau County became involved. When the Guardian attempted to get more information from the Suffolk County police department, their inquiries were directed back to the FBI.
The Nassau County police department, on the other hand, told the Guardian that Catalano “was not visited by the Nassau police department.”
The department denied any involvement in the situation, according to the Guardian.
However, FBI spokesperson Peter Donald confirmed with The Atlantic Wire that both the Suffolk and Nassau County police departments are members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).
Donald said he did not know which agency provided information that led to the visit and he confirmed that it was not the JTTF that led to the visit.
Suffolk County is also home to one of the infamous fusion centers, as The Atlantic Wire points out.
The entire visit lasted 45 minutes, according to Catalano.
The most interesting aspect of her story is that the agents allegedly told her husband that they “do this about 100 times a week. And that 99 of those visits turn out to be nothing.”
If her recollection is accurate, that means that law enforcement agents, likely around the country, are carrying out many visits to the homes of Americans based solely on information gathered from internet activity.
Declan McCullagh, however, disputes the claim that Google searches were in any way involved.
Lauren Weinstein
@laurenweinstein
@JuliaAngwin @inthefade I see absolutely no evidence stated that Google searches were in any way involved.
@laurenweinstein @JuliaAngwin @inthefade Agreed. Tip from nosy neighbors is likely source, or IP datadump from http://buypressurecookers.com .
Catalano, however, maintains that her story is completely true.
Michele Catalano
@inthefade
Thanks again to those defending me.
Everyone else, don't know what to tell you. I've nothing to gain by
lying and everything to lose.
But she is also refusing to give interviews to media outlets, without explaining the reason for the move. Mike Riggs at Reason notes that the decision came after “getting some pushback to her story.”
Michele Catalano
@inthefade
Michele Catalano
@inthefade
UPDATE: Tech Crunch has released a statement from the Suffolk County police department on the matter which states that it was a former employer who tipped the agents off, not Google.
The statement reads in part:
Suffolk County Criminal Intelligence Detectives received a tip from a Bay Shore based computer company regarding suspicious computer searches conducted by a recently released employee. The former employee’s computer searches took place on this employee’s workplace computer. On that computer, the employee searched the terms “pressure cooker bombs” and “backpacks.”“This should be a teachable moment to anyone who thinks that their workplace computers are somehow not being tracked,” Tech Crunch concludes.
After interviewing the company representatives, Suffolk County Police Detectives visited the subject’s home to ask about the suspicious internet searches. The incident was investigated by Suffolk County Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Detectives and was determined to be non-criminal in nature.
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