Senate Advances Plan To Make Email and Social Sites Report Terror Activity

Advocatus Diaboli sends news that the Senate Intelligence Committee has unanimously approved draft legislation that would requires email providers and social media sites to report any suspected terrorist activities to the government. While the legislation itself is classified until it reaches the Senate floor, Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) said, "America’s security depends on our intelligence community’s ability to detect and thwart attacks on the homeland, our personnel and interests overseas, and our allies. This year’s legislation arms the intelligence community with the resources they need, and reinforces congressional oversight of intelligence activities." The legislation is based on 2008's Protect Our Children Act, which required companies to report information about child porn to an agency that would act on it. One industry official told the Washington Post, "Considering the vast majority of people on these sites are not doing anything wrong, this type of monitoring would be considered by many to be an invasion of privacy. It would also be technically difficult."

Comments

I hereby announce my plans for terrorism

[Anonymous Coward]

I will dump tea in Boston Harbor, while dressed as an Indian, feather, not dot, and I will then follow it up by riding a horse to Lexington and Concord.

Re:I hereby announce my plans for terrorism

[LifesABeach]

It sorrows me to inform the DOJ, but the Senate Intelligence Committee are a terrorists organization. Their anti american activities to abolish the 1st Amendment is throughly unignoreable.

And what if those rag headed cock suckers have a valid point? What then?

Re:I hereby announce my plans for terrorism

[dbIII]

Considering Senator Peter T. King (New York) proudly supported the IRA (including financially) when it was blowing up people in England and he's a prominent member of that committee things are ridiculous.

I define terror ...

[PPH]

... as someone operating outside the purview of our court system running around threatening me with prison time should I fail to hand over my data.

And how are they going to do this?

[GrandCow]

Do they expect email providers to flag every email with keywords in it? Because I'm sure they'll love hearing about all the bath bombs people order. Or the new version of death and decay from warcraft patch notes.

You'd think any kind of organized terrorist would use codewords and not actually write an email saying "the bomb will be placed at and it's set to blow up at 3:00pm, We expect 100+ deaths"

Re:And how are they going to do this?

[I'm New Around Here]

Achmed, stop giving away our secret code.

Re:Pull a what?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, didn't misspell. Clinton is the one who ran her own server from home and trashed the data AND server when asked for it..knowingly. Even if other POS elected representatives wiped data from state servers it doesn't diminish the fact that Hillary did it AFTER she was told to give up the goods, hence my original comment and your moronic response that had nothing to do with it, but I shouldn't be surprised from this sites; liberal readers.

Terrorists

[penguinoid]

Terrorists are attacking our homeland, reading our mail, threatening the security guaranteed to us by the First and Fourth Amendments. And if the terrorists find something they don't like, expect to see a large group of them show up with guns and take you away.

It would also be technically difficult.

[frovingslosh]

It would also be technically difficult.

Nothing is too difficult for the person who doesn't have to do it their self.

Let me rewrite that for you Mr. Richard Burr...

[Gription]

"America’s security depends on dispensing with people's liberty when we can come up with a scary possibility."

Liberty is a risk. We are supposed to cherish that we in the "home of the brave" were brave enough to choose the RISK of liberty.
The endless pulpit banging about risks to the "Fatherland" ... (wait... oops... erase, erase, erase...) I mean risks to the Homeland are still a microscopic percentage of the risk of getting in your car to drive to work.

QUIT PROTECTING ME FROM LIBERTY! (and pass me the Advil...)

why not go full Stasi?

[NostalgiaForInfinity]

Senate Intelligence Committee has unanimously approved draft legislation that would requires email providers and social media sites to report any suspected terrorist activities to the government.

Why stop there? If you're going to have various private parties report on each other, why not go full Stasi? Have teachers report on students, kids on parents, parents on kids, etc. And we clearly need a Division of Garbage Analysis and a Main Administration for Struggle Against Suspicious Persons.

Come on Dianne Feinstein, what are you waiting for? We all know it's what you really want anyway.

The Magic Words

[dcollins]

"This year’s legislation arms the intelligence community with the resources they need"

Translation: There's nothing here that really needs to be illegal; and we do not expect this to be enforced regularly or equitably. We just want to be able to declare as criminal anyone we take a disliking to, or who doesn't bend over for us on demand.