Senate Bill Rewrite Lets Feds Read Your E-mail Without Warrants

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Senate Bill Rewrite Lets Feds Read Your E-mail Without Warrants

Posted by timothy on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @01:44AM from the as-if-they-wouldn't-otherwise dept.

concealment writes "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. [Sen. Patrick] 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."

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Yay! Democrats! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-20 01:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

Guardians of our Liberties and Privacy!
Good thing those nasty old Republicans aren't running the show. They might force the Feds to get a search warrant or something.
1. Re:Yay! Democrats! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-20 01:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You're gonna have to rewrite your national anthem at this rate
  Home of the brave - Nope. You have a whole agency called TSA which I assume stands for The Scared Americans
  And what with this lot you can hardly be called the land of the free
2. Re:Yay! Democrats! by Damastus+the+WizLiz · 2012-11-20 01:53 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Guardians of our Liberties and Privacy!
  Good thing those nasty old Republicans aren't running the show. They might force the Feds to get a search warrant or something.
  Do you really think that one side or the other is going be that much better?
  
  --
  I often have trouble remembering which way is out of bed in the morning.
3. Re:Yay! Democrats! by Jawnn · 2012-11-20 02:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Your glee is... misplaced. Since the paranoid responses to September 11 over a decade ago, both sides of the aisle can hang their heads in shame. The elected officials of both parties have pushed the power of government to interfere with our personal liberties on the promise of "keeping us safe". It's bullshit, of course, but to suggest that it is being shoveled by one party more than another is to ignore plain facts.
4. Re:Yay! Democrats! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-20 03:08 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well, "the free" part is still true. It just doesn't refer to the people any more. It is the government that is free. Free to do whatever the hell they want with no oversight and nothing anyone can do about it. Because, you know, only child-molesters and terrorists want to be free, and you'd have to be one of those two groups to say anything about what the government does.
  The United States has a cancer and is rotting from within. (Sad enough on its own, worse by the fact that they are not alone.)
5. Re:Yay! Democrats! by moeinvt · 2012-11-20 03:22 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "The parties aren't conspiring to erode our privacy or liberties."
  I share your disappointment with the voting public, but I disagree on this point. It's obvious that the Patriot Act had been written long before 9-11-2001 and TPTB were just waiting for an excuse to implement it. That's solid proof of a "conspiracy".
  Do you think that the Patriot Act would be re-authorized if it was put up for national referendum? How about the bill being discussed in the article? IMO, the people that "support" these measures do so passively, while the people that oppose them are passionate in their opposition. For that reason, I think the opposition would win.
  Unfortunately, we're stuck with the false dichotomy of the 2 party system and most of the 'R's and 'D's agree that The People should have fewer civil liberties. This issue just isn't important enough for most people to compel them to vote for a 3rd party. That's tacit support for the policies, but it's not a matter of politicians bending to popular opinion.
6. Re:Yay! Democrats! by ArcherB · 2012-11-20 03:27 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Yeah, we could trust corporations to do this so much better. Libertarians - cut out the middle man in our plutocracy.
  Libertarians are about a smaller federal government and expanded states' rights. Under a Libertarian Utopia, it would be up to your state to limit the power of big business... or not. Either way, your voice gets louder and your vote counts for more the smaller the election gets. In other words, your vote counts more in smaller, local elections than it does in large federal ones.
  
  --
  There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Reality by Yaddoshi · 2012-11-20 01:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

Whenever anyone starts freaking out about email snooping, I find it is a good time to point out that an email message that is not encrypted is roughly as secure in transit as a postcard.
1. Re:Reality by Culture20 · 2012-11-20 02:04 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Because it is non trivial to set up. People of average intelligence get confused with key exchanges, signing, etc.
Why do we even have warrants in the U.S. anymore? by crazyjj · 2012-11-20 02:10 · Score: 5, Insightful

Seriously, what does the 4th Amendment in particular, or the Constitution in general, even apply to anymore? The government can subvert every single protection afforded in the Constitution simply by saying "It's a national security matter" (or even "It's a law enforcement matter") and every court in the country will simply turn its head and ignore it.

--
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Re:Why do we even have warrants in the U.S. anymor by PortHaven · 2012-11-20 02:32 · Score: 5, Insightful

No it won't. The Constitution is just about meaningless these days.
- you can be stopped, searched, and seized with no suspicion or warrant
- try using your right to bear arms in NYC
- granted, they're not quartering troops in our homes....but there is no need to.
- guess, we still have the right to gripe...for now
Yep this is democracy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-20 03:15 · Score: 5, Informative

The difference between Western democracies and the old skool Communist regimes?
Difference #1: We call ourselves a democracy, so of course we are.
Difference #2: Instead of ONE party, we have TWO parties (note the huge quantitative difference), so everybody can freely pick the party that perfectly matches their views.
Difference #3: We wear more colorful clothing, so that means we have freedom.
Difference #4: Instead of a politburo to control lawmakers, we have gigantic corporations.
The list goes on.
(If you actually think democracy could be better then the farce we have now, then help change it peacefully from the outside using open source tools and principles.)