The ACLU has found thousands of privacy violations committed by the FBI, under the guise of national security. However, a closer look reveals, at least 40,000 of the violations committed by FBI employees, were done flagrantly and with sheer disregard for the privacy of the public. The information was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The FBI may have committed a minimum of 40,000 violations in its intelligence gathering since 9/11, in a report released Monday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In analyzing 2,500 pages of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, EFF found that the violations showed a disregard for the privacy of the average citizen, civil liberties and oversight. The EFF report also documents the willingness of private companies to turn over their customers' information to the feds, without "valid legal justification."