Judge Blocks Disclosure of FBI Cameras in Seattle
Some nutjob who works for Seattle decided that there’s no such thing as confidential information in an ongoing investigation. A Judge recently blocked the City of Seattle from disclosing the location of several FBI cameras in the city.
KOMO News Reports:
A federal judge has stopped Seattle City Light from releasing the location of FBI surveillance cameras in the Seattle area.
U.S. District Judge Richard Jones granted the temporary restraining order Monday after Justice Department attorneys sought it.
He ruled that releasing the information would “irreparably” injure the FBI. The release of the information would mean “the confidentiality of the protected information will be destroyed, and the recipients will be free to publish it or post the sensitive information wherever they choose, including on the internet, where it would harm important federal law enforcement operational interests as well as the personal privacy of innocent third parties.”
Late last year, City Light released some information on law enforcement cameras on City Light poles and property. But the utility redacted the locations of FBI cameras.
But now City Light says it will have to release that information, too, unless the FBI gets a judge to stop it.
Justice Department attorneys sued in federal court in Seattle on Monday, asking a judge to issue an injunction to stop the release of the cameras’ locations.
“Disclosure of even minor details about them may cause jeopardy to important federal interests because, much like a jigsaw puzzle, each detail may aid adversaries in piecing together information about the capabilities, limitations, and circumstances of equipment’s use, and would allow law enforcement subjects, or national security adversaries, to accumulate information and draw conclusions about the FBI’s use of this technology, in order to evade effective, lawful investigation by the FBI,” the attorneys wrote.
Unlike most surveillance cameras, the FBI’s cameras are not used for security, they are used for investigating specific suspects. Good on this Judge for making the right decision.
