Terror suspect [CO refugee] says U.S. agents breach privacy rights of millions

An Uzbekistan refugee charged with conspiring with foreign terrorists accuses U.S. intelligence agents of using a "backdoor" strategy to violate his privacy rights and those of millions of people, including virtually every U.S. citizen who corresponds with anyone overseas.

Defendant Jamshid Muhtorov of Aurora filed a motion seeking to toss out evidence collected against him through warrantless wiretaps ...

Intelligence agents have routinely scanned millions of e-mail and phone communications of U.S. citizens, even though it is illegal to directly tap those contacts without a warrant, his motion says.

Muhtorov's case was the first in which federal prosecutors acknowledged using warrantless wiretaps in criminal investigations and could lead to a court challenge of a law passed six years ago that spawned the practice ...

In making its case, Muhtorov is attempting to use President Barack Obama's own words against the government.

In 2008, when Obama was a U.S. senator, he proposed an amendment to the FISA act that would have prohibited the government from tapping communications without a warrant if it knew it involved a U.S. citizen ...