The FBI has agreed to pay $299,000 in a partial settlement over the agency’s investigation of an online antiwar magazine more than a decade ago.
But the federal magistrate who approved the settlement has also ruled that the FBI was authorized to look into the magazine, Antiwar.com, and its staff members’ writings because it had published a “watch list” of people the FBI was investigating after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The magazine’s founder and director said the ruling, which is not yet final, would subject political dissidents to future government investigations. He said the magazine had found the watch list on the Internet.
“It means that they can arbitrarily open up investigations of activist groups and journalists simply on the basis of what they have said publicly,” Eric Garris said Wednesday at the publication’s San Francisco office.
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