Clarifying FBI's electronic reach must be cautious

[cory777]

Source: Washington Post

THE JUSTICE Department is arguing for changes to the law that governs the kind of information it may demand -- without a warrant -- from Internet service providers (ISPs).

The move is a sensible one that is meant to clarify a legal ambiguity. But the fix must be narrowly tailored to guard against expansion of the government's power to seize all manner of Internet data without court authorization.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) authorizes the FBI to gather "subscriber information and toll billing records information, or electronic communication transactional records" that are "relevant to" a terrorism investigation. The FBI typically serves the ISP with a national security letter to collect telephone records and e-mail routing information. ISPs may challenge the request in federal court; they may also challenge a gag order that usually prevents the company from publicly acknowledging the FBI's demand. (A court order is required for the government to listen in on a phone conversation or to read the content of an e-mail.)

Most ISPs have complied with these demands, but at least some have balked, arguing that the key part of the statute that lists the types of information the FBI may obtain does not explicitly mention e-mail. The Justice Department is now urging lawmakers to borrow the words "electronic communication transactional record" from one part of the ECPA and insert them into this section.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080606111.html?wprss=rss_technology

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[Downwinder]

1. Why should they get more from an ISP than they can get from the Post Office?

[sandnsea]

2. National Security Letters are served on anybody

Including the post office. I don't think the issue should be so much whether they're served on an ISP as to whether they need to be restricted as to when they can be served at all. They served over 20,000 of these things in 2008.

[Ricochet21]

3. I agree

I agree