One issue with both the proposal and the current law is that the phrase "electronic communication transactional records" is not defined anywhere in statute. "Our biggest concern is that an expanded NSL power might be used to obtain Internet search queries and Web histories detailing every Web site visited and every file downloaded," said Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has sued AT&T for assisting the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program.

He said he does not object to the government obtaining access to electronic records, provided it has a judge's approval.

The administration has asked Congress to amend the statute, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, in the fiscal year that begins in October.

Administration officials noted that the act specifies in one clause that Internet and other companies have a duty to provide electronic communication transactional records to the FBI in response to a national security letter.

The officials said the transactional information at issue, which does not include Internet search queries, is the functional equivalent of telephone toll billing records, which the FBI can obtain without court authorization. Learning the e-mail addresses to which an Internet user sends messages, they said, is no different than obtaining a list of numbers called by a telephone user.

The first attack of the lame duck Congress?

Oh, the outrage, eh lefties?

Oh, the outrage, eh lefties?
#2 | Posted by KBM at 2010-07-29 09:01 PM

FBI access to e-mail and Web records raises fears
WASHINGTON -- Invasion of privacy in the Internet age. Expanding the reach of law enforcement to snoop on e-mail traffic or on Web surfing. Those are among the criticisms being aimed at the FBI as it tries to update a key surveillance law.

The critics say the proposed change would allow the FBI to remove federal judges and courts from scrutiny of its requests for sensitive information.

Once again, what Dubya started, Obama is not only continuing, but expanding.

Hope FOR Change

I can't believe how silent this thread is. Had it been a Bush thread, we would be at 400 posts by now.

We did say that once you give these kind of powers to the Executive Branch they will never willingly give them up didn't we?

What more is there to say?

We told you so?

There...feel better now?

Same shit, different president.

Why the sudden outrage from the right?

Why the sudden outrage from the right?

#8 | Posted by ZombieHunter

maybe they got something to hide? remember if you have nothing to hide this shouldn't be a problem for you...right?

Right?

Hey! Where did everyone go?