{"id":7989,"date":"2012-11-21T06:55:19","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T12:50:18","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T12:50:18","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=7989","title":{"rendered":"CNET: “Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants”"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNET: Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants<\/a> by Declan McCullagh:<\/p>\n

Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans’ e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files.<\/p>\n

A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans’ e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law.<\/p>\n

CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans’ e-mail, is scheduled for next week.<\/p>\n

Leahy’s rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to access Americans’ e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge.<\/p>\n

It’s an abrupt departure from Leahy’s earlier approach, which required police to obtain a search warrant backed by probable cause before they could read the contents of e-mail or other communications. The Vermont Democrat boasted last year that his bill “provides enhanced privacy protections for American consumers by… requiring that the government obtain a search warrant.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Revised bill highlights<\/p>\n

✭ Grants warrantless access to Americans’ electronic correspondence to over 22 federal agencies. Only a subpoena is required, not a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause.<\/p>\n

✭ Permits state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans’ correspondence stored on systems not offered “to the public,” including university networks.<\/p>\n

✭ Authorizes any law enforcement agency to access accounts without a warrant — or subsequent court review — if they claim “emergency” situations exist.<\/p>\n

✭ Says providers “shall notify” law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they’ve been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena.<\/p>\n

✭ Delays notification of customers whose accounts have been accessed from 3 days to “10 business days.” This notification can be postponed by up to 360 days.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE: Leahy scuttles his warrantless e-mail surveillance bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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