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US House Passes Bill Requiring Warrants To Search Old Emails (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to require law enforcement authorities to obtain a search warrant before seeking old emails from technology companies, a win for privacy advocates fearful the Trump administration may work to expand government surveillance powers. The House passed the measure by a voice vote. But the legislation was expected to encounter resistance in the Senate, where it failed to advance last year amid opposition by a handful of Republican lawmakers after the House passed it unanimously. Currently, agencies such as the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission only need a subpoena to seek such data from a service provider.
yet again. It's sad.
Didn't realize the constitution applied only to recent correspondence...
Too shallow. Also feeble. No reply merited.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
That is actually touching on a good point that I didn't directly address. If you are rich enough and value your privacy that much, then you certainly can try to control your email better by using your own email server. Doesn't always work as well as it might. There was a certain H. Clinton who tried that approach...
Rather than chase (or get sucked) down that rabbit hole, let me just say that I think regular people should also have the freedom to control their own email. They should even be allowed to use "full-service" email systems such as Gmail without sacrificing their Constitutional rights.
What makes it especially bad in the case of the google is the hypocrisy of the "Don't be evil" thing. There are ways to make email less evil and less subject to abuse, but the google has chosen (and is continuing to choose) not to use them. I am admitting that the google is offering a highly attractive email system, but they are offering it in an EVIL way.
Perhaps I should try to back this conversation away from Gmail? It was merely an example I selected for the larger point of "possession"... Or should I try to defend the selection of that example on the grounds that Gmail is so easily abused in so many ways, while still being so prevalent?
Let me say that if there were a better option available, then I would drop Gmail in the proverbial New York minute, and I certainly would not use Gmail for any "subversive" email that would actually do something like unfairly upset #PresidentTweety. (Yes, I'm sure (or hopeful?) that much of my email (and public comments like this one) would upset him, but I think I'm quite fair about it. Plus it's too easy to do.)
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.