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Secret Text in Senate Bill Would Give FBI Warrantless Access to Email Records
A PROVISION SNUCK INTO the still-secret text of the Senate’s annual intelligence authorization would give the FBI the ability to demand individuals’ email data and possibly web-surfing history from their service providers without a warrant and in complete secrecy.
If passed, the change would expand the reach of the FBI’s already highly controversial national security letters. The FBI is currently allowed to get certain types of information with NSLs — most commonly, information about the name, address, and call data associated with a phone number or details about a bank account.
Since a 2008 Justice Department legal opinion, the FBI has not been allowed to use NSLs to demand “electronic communication transactional records,” such as email subject lines and other metadata, or URLs visited.
The spy bill passed the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, with the provision in it. The lone no vote came from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who wrote in a statement that one of the bill’s provisions “would allow any FBI field office to demand email records without a court order, a major expansion of federal surveillance powers.”
Wyden did not disclose exactly what the provision would allow, but his spokesperson suggested it might go beyond email records to things like web-surfing histories and other information about online behavior. “Senator Wyden is concerned it could be read that way,” Keith Chu said.
It’s unclear how or when the provision was added, although Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., — the committee’s chairman — and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have both offered bills in the past that would address what the FBI calls a gap and privacy advocates consider a serious threat to civil liberties.
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Fall Election Presents Three Internet Privacy Futures
Fall Election Presents Three Internet Privacy Futures
Here’s why Canadians should press candidates about warrantless data access.
Warranted concern: This election could determine the future path of Canadian law on access to internet subscriber information.
Pointing to its big implications for privacy and surveillance, the NDP sees political opportunity by emphasizing its opposition to the bill, while the Liberals have been forced to defend their decision to support it (but call for amendments if elected). The Conservatives unsurprisingly view the bill as evidence of their commitment to national security and have even floated the possibility of additional anti-terror measures.
While Bill C-51 now represents a legislative shorthand for the parties’ positions on privacy and surveillance, a potentially bigger privacy issue merits closer attention.
Last year, the government concluded more than a decade of debate over “lawful access” legislation by enacting a bill that provided new law enforcement powers for access to internet and telecom data. The bill came just as reports revealed that telecom providers faced more than a million requests for such information each year and the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark Spencer decision, which ruled that Canadians have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their basic subscriber information, including name, address, and IP address.
The upshot of the lawful access legislation and the court ruling is that Canada’s leading telecom and internet companies reversed longstanding policies that granted warrantless access to basic subscriber information. Police can now rely on several new warrants to gain access to some information (including “metadata” that can reveal extensive information about the who, when and where of internet and phone communications), but companies are typically refusing to disclose basic subscriber information without a warrant.
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Canadians to Spy Agencies: Get a Warrant!
Canadians to Spy Agencies: Get a Warrant!
Ranked first among privacy priorities, the people of Canada have spoken. Second in a series.
Do our digital homes deserve the same right to privacy as our brick-and-mortar homes?
This is one of the questions Canadians are asking after CBC News revealed that a government spy agency — the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) — targeted popular mobile browsers and apps, leaving millions at risk of having their private data hacked.
This is the latest in a long series of revelations about how the government has been spying on our private online activities on a massive scale — without ever going to a judge to ask for a warrant.
Earlier this week, we launched a crowdsourced pro-privacy action plan, to tackle these and other concerns. The early reception has been positive, with the federal privacy commissioner stating that he “shared many of the views expressed by participants in this project.”
As part of our crowdsourcing process, we presented participants with a range of privacy priorities, which we asked them to rank in order of preference. Top of Canadians’ list was “require a warrant for government to spy on personal information,” which barely edged out “end blanket surveillance” for the number one spot.
Tackling Canada’s privacy deficit starts with getting a warrant, finds new OpenMedia report.
We drilled down further by asking in what circumstances should the government be allowed to access Canadians’ personal information. Again we presented a range of options, and this time the result was overwhelming:
Over 93 per cent of participants said a warrant granted by a judge is a must when it comes to accessing your personal information. Independent studies, such as this one by the privacy commissioner and this one by Forum Research, reinforce these findings.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
