>And they can do pretty much anything, now that they're exempt from search, seizure or any serious investigation.
>
>Yes, but "they" are just a bureau that can only "do pretty much anything" if they can persuade local law enforcement to behave that way. They don't have any James Bonds of their own and local law enforcement is not covered by the immunity.

Actually, with deeper reading over the last few messages, the danger of abuse shifts to local forces - parts of which can now be assigned as belonging to Interpol and therefore out of bounds. Again, what was the reason they were NOT granted these exemptions and immunities in 1983? Were they fools back then?

>As for the archives: any locally-derived information is already available (from source) under the Freedom of Information Act. The main effect of immunity is on information shared by counterparts abroad, information to which US citizens do not have any legal right and for which creation of extra rights would not be in US interests, because foreign countries would be foolish to share sensitive information if it can be picked apart and exposed under US law.

And now the nature of those archives can freely change. Anything you don't want the people to know about can be moved to, or simply designated as Interpol archive, and nobody will ever know what's inside.

>I'd also observe that FBI Director Robert Mueller III told a senate committee last year that the FBI needs "global reach" to fight cyber-crime and terrorism and that co-operation with "law enforcement partners" gives it "the means to leverage the collective resources of many countries". He's talking about standardized surveillance technologies that the US wants to be able to access. Perhaps a few local changes/concessions may be justified if it helps persuade other countries to agree?

"Cybercrime" - like guys hacking corporate websites? I thought he'd want this "global reach" so he could chase the guys taking billions to Cayman islands, running international pyramid schemes, shuffling money through affiliates they own, Enron style... but he wants to get someone in Dolnyeyebutsk who's stealing avatars from WoW players?