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Comment by espeed

I remember during the Boston bombing investigation, Tim Clemente, a former FBI counter-terrorism agent, told Erin Burnett on CNN that they could go back and get access to the content of the calls between the deceased bomber and his wife, Katherine Russell.

After some Googling, I found a partial transcript of the CNN interview...

"Almost immediately Erin Burnett, the host of CNN's Outfront, wanted to know how the government knew. Aren't phone calls supposed to be private? She interviewed Tim Clemente, a former FBI counter-terrorism agent on May 1, asking:"

  Is there any way … they [the federal investigators] can
  try to get the phone companies to give that up … It’s not
  a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There’s no way
  they can actually find out what [was said on the call],
  right, unless she tells them?

  Clemente:  There is a way. We certainly have ways in
  national security investigations to find out exactly what
  was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily
  something that the FBI is going to want to present in
  court, but it may help lead the investigation … we 
  certainly can find that out.

  Burnett: So they can actually get that? … that is  
  incredible.

  Clemente: Welcome to America. All of that stuff is being 
  captured as we speak, whether we know it or like it, or 
  not. 
Source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/15340-boston...

When I initially saw this on CNN, my first thought was, do they also have access to all photos and videos that are taken and transmitted online?

And if so, couldn't they stitch together a multi-angle montage from all the photos and videos taken at the scene of the Boston bombing (like http://photosynth.net), rather than asking everyone to manually scour through their personal footage?

UPDATE:

CNN Interview Clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPHZrVPt4-U)

CNN Follow-Up Interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt9kRLrmrjc)

parent espeed 13 years ago

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