This week, a broad coalition of rights groups, Internet companies, and trade associations have issued a letter urging the US Senate to reject proposed legislation that would empower the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to obtain your Internet records without a warrant – including your browsing history and records of whom you have emailed and when.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas has introduced an amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2015 that would give the FBI the power to request electronic “transactional records” such as log-in dates and times, browsing histories, and email logs – although not the content of messages – from Internet service providers if the FBI believes the information would be “relevant” to an international terrorism or espionage investigation. No warrant would be required, and the FBI would have the power to decide for itself whose Internet records are “relevant.” Moreover, in accordance with existing law, companies would have no choice but to comply with such “requests,” which are popularly known as National Security Letters (NSLs) and – it appears – are nearly always accompanied by orders forbidding the companies from even disclosing that a request was made.
A similar proposal for obtaining these Internet records through NSLs has reportedly been included in the pending Intelligence Authorization Act.
The coalition letter mentioned above points out that if adopted, these provisions “would dramatically expand the ability of the FBI to get sensitive information about users’ online activities without court oversight.” It also emphasizes just how sensitive this type of data can be, even if no content is included. Among other things, data like this can “reveal details about a person’s political affiliation, medical conditions, religion, substance abuse history,” and sexual orientation. While the FBI would be prohibited from snooping “solely” on the basis of someone’s exercise of their right to free expression, people have good reason to be alarmed, since the awarding of such intrusive powers without proper oversight threatens the human rights of Internet users throughout the US and globally.
This misguided effort to give law enforcement access to some of your most private data without a warrant provides a potent reminder of the need for constant vigilance in defending rights from the ever-encroaching shadow of excessive surveillance.
