Can the FBI Monitor Your Web Browsing?

[Guest guest]

Hello,

 

do you really think they don't?

 

Randolf

 

 

, " califpacific "

<califpacific> wrote:

>

>

> st...@a...

> Sun, 16 Jan 2005 19:37:21 EST

> Fwd: Can the FBI Monitor Your Web Browsing?

>

>

>

> R... writes:

>

> Can the FBI Monitor Your Web Browsing Without a Warrant?

> EFF Demands Answers from DOJ about PATRIOT Act Surveillance

>

> Washington, DC - Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation(EFF)

> filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FBI

> and other offices of the US Department of Justice,

> seeking the release of documents that would reveal whether

> the government has been using the USA PATRIOT Act to spy

> on Internet users' reading habits without a search warrant.

>

> At issue is PATRIOT Section 216, which expanded the government's

> authority to conduct surveillance in criminal investigations

> using pen registers or trap and trace devices ( " pen-traps " ).

>

> Pen-traps collect information about the numbers dialed

> on a telephone but do not record the actual content

> of phone conversations. Because of this limitation,

> court orders authorizing pen-trap surveillance are easy to get

> - instead of having to show probable cause, the government

> need only certify relevance to its investigation.

> Also, the government never has to inform people that they are

> or were the subjects of pen-trap surveillance.

>

> PATRIOT expanded pen-traps to include devices that monitor

> Internet communications. But the line between non-content and

content

> is a lot blurrier online than it is on phone networks.

> The DOJ has said openly that the new definitions

> allow pen-traps to collect email and IP addresses.

> However, the DOJ has not been so forthcoming about web

surveillance.

> It won't reveal whether it believes URLs can be collected

> using pen-traps, despite the fact that URLs clearly reveal

> content by identifying the web pages being read. EFF made its

> FOIA request specifically to gain access to documents that might

> reveal whether the DOJ is using pen-traps to monitor web

browsing.

>

> " It's been over three years since the USA PATRIOT Act was

passed,

> and the DOJ still hasn't answered the public's simple question:

> 'Can you see what we're reading on the Web without probable

cause?' "

> said Kevin Bankston, EFF Staff Attorney

> and Bruce J. Ennis Equal Justice Works Fellow.

>

> " Much of PATRIOT is coming up for review this year, but we can

> never have a full and informed debate of the issues when the DOJ

> won't explain how it has been using these new surveillance

powers. "

>

> The law firm,DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary assisted EFF in

preparing the

> FOIA request and will help with any litigation if the DOJ fails

to

> respond.

>

> FOIA request:

> <http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID=378>

>

> For this release:

> <http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_01.php#002213>

>

>

>

>

> Protest the coronation II on Black Thursday