White House Seeks to Clarify F.B.I. Powers vis-à-vis E-Mail; Also, statement from Senator Leahy

[ProSense]

White House Seeks to Clarify F.B.I. Powers vis-à-vis E-Mail

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has asked Congress to give clear authority to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain records related to the context of e-mails and other Internet-based communications without first obtaining a warrant from a judge.

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The administration portrays its proposal, first reported by The Washington Post, as a mere technical fix to clarify a confusingly written statute and says it would not grant the F.B.I. any new powers. It says that F.B.I. agents have been requesting such information for years and that most Internet service providers routinely provide it.

“The statute as written causes confusion and the potential for unnecessary litigation,” said Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman. “This clarification will not allow the government to obtain or collect new categories of information, but it seeks to clarify what Congress intended when the statute was amended in 1993.”

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The Justice Department contends that the F.B.I. already has the authority to obtain such Internet records with a national-security letter because “electronic communications transactional records” are mentioned elsewhere in the act, although not in that specific list.

Comment Of Senator Leahy On A Proposed Change By The Administration To The Electronic Communications Privacy Act

“Given the technical advances of the last two decades and the need for a comprehensive, national cybersecurity strategy, it is clear that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act must be updated to reflect the realities of the Digital Age. But the administration’s proposal to change ECPA to cover electronic communication transaction records raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns.

“While the government should have the tools that it needs to keep us safe, American citizens should also have protections against improper intrusions into their private electronic communications and online transactions. We must also address past government abuses of these authorities. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings this fall to study these and other important issues.”

[vaberella]

1. Well the FBI powers is true.

If they want info, net providers normally give it.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Trusting those who let Bush skate to be honorable is stupid

You can not have commerce with people able to read all you send. I do not trust the religiously delusional 'faith based' haters and others in the government not to abuse those of us they target in other ways so openly. Laws like this allow the Feds to steal from people. They are thieves. And they want to monitor your business, and your children and they want to know things, without reason or warrant.
This stuff has to end. I'm not voting for this again.

[boppers]

3. The whole field needs revisiting every few years.

Either that, or our culture needs a better understanding of what is, and isn't, an unconstitutional search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored_Communications_Act

"Furthermore, users generally entrust the security of online information to a third party, an ISP. In many cases, Fourth Amendment doctrine has held that, in so doing, users relinquish any expectation of privacy."