The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be able to spy on journalists thanks to an “obscure” law, The Guardian reports.

In one case, the government obtained data on a journalist’s phone calls from Minneapolis. She was not notified about the request for information, and she had no opportunity to challenge the government’s actions.

In another case, after a court refused to grant access to the journalists’ accounts, the ministry used a ruse—authorities obtained the information they wanted thanks to only one signature by a department employee.

🛡 The requests referred to an obscure provision of a federal law concerning customs import. According to this provision, the ministry has broad powers to check documentation in order to determine the “correctness of the collection of duties and taxes on imported goods.” In addition, the recipients of the request were ordered to keep it secret.

As a result, authorities may end up with both users’ IP addresses and login data. Despite the fact that the affected people are not connected to customs matters, the loophole in the law still works.

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