news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552225-38/senate-bill-rewrite-lets-feds-read-your-e-mail-without-warrants/

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, CNET has learned.

Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns, according to three individuals who have been negotiating with Leahy's staff over the changes. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.
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.

CNET obtained a draft of the proposed amendments from one of the people involved in the negotiations with Leahy; it's embedded at the end of this post. The document describes the changes as "Amendments intended to be proposed by Mr. Leahy."

It's an abrupt departure from Leahy's earlier approach, which required police to obtain a search warrant backed by probable cause before they could read the contents of e-mail or other communications. The Vermont Democrat boasted last year that his bill "provides enhanced privacy protections for American consumers by... requiring that the government obtain a search warrant."

Leahy had planned a vote on an earlier version of his bill, designed to update a pair of 1980s-vintage surveillance laws, in late September. But after law enforcement groups including the National District Attorneys' Association and the National Sheriffs' Association organizations objected to the legislation and asked him to "reconsider acting" on it, Leahy pushed back the vote and reworked the bill as a package of amendments to be offered next Thursday. The package (PDF) is a substitute for H.R. 2471, which the House of Representatives already has approved.

One person participating in Capitol Hill meetings on this topic told CNET that Justice Department officials have expressed their displeasure about Leahy's original bill. The department is on record as opposing any such requirement: James Baker, the associate deputy attorney general, has publicly warned that requiring a warrant to obtain stored e-mail could have an "adverse impact" on criminal investigations.

Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said requiring warrantless access to Americans' data "undercuts" the purpose of Leahy's original proposal. "We believe a warrant is the appropriate standard for any contents," he said.

An aide to the Senate Judiciary committee told CNET that because discussions with interested parties are ongoing, it would be premature to comment on the legislation.

Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said that in light of the revelations about how former CIA director David Petraeus' e-mail was perused by the FBI, "even the Department of Justice should concede that there's a need for more judicial oversight," not less.

Markham Erickson, a lawyer in Washington, D.C. who has followed the topic closely and said he was speaking for himself and not his corporate clients, expressed concerns about the alphabet soup of federal agencies that would be granted more power:

There is no good legal reason why federal regulatory agencies such as the NLRB, OSHA, SEC or FTC need to access customer information service providers with a mere subpoena. If those agencies feel they do not have the tools to do their jobs adequately, they should work with the appropriate authorizing committees to explore solutions. The Senate Judiciary committee is really not in a position to adequately make those determinations.

The list of agencies that would receive civil subpoena authority for the contents of electronic communications also includes the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission.

Leahy's modified bill retains some pro-privacy components, such as requiring police to secure a warrant in many cases. But the dramatic shift, especially the regulatory agency loophole and exemption for emergency account access, likely means it will be near-impossible for tech companies to support in its new form.

A bitter setback
This is a bitter setback for Internet companies and a liberal-conservative-libertarian coalition, which had hoped to convince Congress to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act to protect documents stored in the cloud. Leahy glued those changes onto an unrelated privacy-related bill supported by Netflix.

At the moment, Internet users enjoy more privacy rights if they store data on their hard drives or under their mattresses, a legal hiccup that the companies fear could slow the shift to cloud-based services unless the law is changed to be more privacy-protective.

Members of the so-called Digital Due Process coalition include Apple, Amazon.com, Americans for Tax Reform, AT&T, the Center for Democracy and Technology, eBay, Google, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, TechFreedom, and Twitter. (CNET was the first to report on the coalition's creation.)

Leahy, a former prosecutor, has a mixed record on privacy. He criticized the FBI's efforts to require Internet providers to build in backdoors for law enforcement access, and introduced a bill in the 1990s protecting Americans' right to use whatever encryption products they wanted.

But he also authored the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which is now looming over Web companies, as well as the reviled Protect IP Act. An article in The New Republic concluded Leahy's work on the Patriot Act "appears to have made the bill less protective of civil liberties." Leahy had introduced significant portions of the Patriot Act under the name Enhancement of Privacy and Public Safety in Cyberspace Act (PDF) a year earlier.

One obvious option for the Digital Due Process coalition is the simplest: if Leahy's committee proves to be an insurmountable roadblock in the Senate, try the courts instead.

Judges already have been wrestling with how to apply the Fourth Amendment to an always-on, always-connected society. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police needed a search warrant for GPS tracking of vehicles. Some courts have ruled that warrantless tracking of Americans' cell phones, another coalition concern, is unconstitutional.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies already must obtain warrants for e-mail in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, thanks to a ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010.

Bruce Josten, Executive Vice p******** for Government Affairs at the U.S. Chamber:
"If the 2001 and 2003 tax rates are allowed to expire at midnight 12/31, we'll witness the largest single tax hike in history. Hitting tax payers with $400 billion in new taxes the first year, and $4.5 trillion over the next decade.

Marginal tax rates, as well as dividends and capitol gains taxes, will rise. This will squarely hit tax payers ranging from the investors who pour capitol into job creation, to retirees and workers planning to retire.

The estate tax will come roaring back to 55%, and the exemption threshold will dip from $5 million estates to $1 million. Threatening the livelihood of many small businesses and family farms. In addition to the 2001 and 2003 tax rates, relief from the alternative minimum tax will lapse, along with many vital business tax provisions.

Unfortunately, earlier this week the Senate voted to raise taxes on small businesses, a bad idea according to Josten.

"Many of these businesses could see their top tax rates rise from 35% to nearly 45% and a heavier tax burden on our nation's job creators will have a chilling effect on hiring and expansion."

Josten also doesn't ignore the automatic spending cuts that will take effect:

"the ill-designed, across-the-board discretionary spending cuts- a result of the failed Deficit Supercommittee- were never intended to take effect.

If they do, they will disproportionately cut $500 billion in military spending. What's worse, they will fail to address the real drivers of runaway spending- MASSIVE and GROWING ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS.

Just breaking that the White House (from barakobama.com) and the unions are organizing & DRIVING BUSLOADS of left-wing protestors to the state capitols in both Wisconsin and Nebraska, all the while CLAIMING that the protest are organized by the grass roots. All the more ridiculous is that these are the SAME people that accused the Tea-Party rallys (actual grass roots gatherings of Americans) of being professionally organized like they, themselves are doing right now.

It just goes to show you how sanctimonious, untruthful, greedy, and intollerant the Amercian left-wing liberals are. Rather than letting the process work, they sneak out of the state in the middle of the night to avoid doing their duty, & voting like a bunch of little rats fleeing a sinking ship. A tactic, by the way, the left has used before in Texas and other states (this is the interweb...look it up if you don't believe it).

I've got news for you lefties & labor unions...the American public is watching your greedy temper tantrums. These teachers are paid $98,000/yr plus benefits...WAY more than anyone in the private sector. You're going to be rudely awakened to find out that all of your screaming and whining is NOT helping your cause with the American people. So please, by all means, keep it up.

why do the Republicans continue to fight for the rampant speculators on wall st ? whos pocket is the kick-back going in ?? to all you brainwashed morons....who still want to believe it's "supply and demand" listen to the truth !!

Two Bay State congressmen blasted the GOP for trying to gut a key provision of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that would curb oil speculation and lower gasoline prices.

�The Republicans want to protect billions in windfall profits for the oil companies,� said U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden). �These guys don�t care that consumers are being tipped upside down at the pumps to get their last dime.�

In a joint appearance yesterday on the Capitol Hill steps, Markey and Barney Frank (D-Newton) said Republicans have introduced a measure to delay a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulation that would place limits on the kind of commodities trading that has driven the price of gas to $4 per gallon.

�Most of trading on the oil markets is being done by derivative dealers, hedge funds and other speculators who are driving up the price of gasoline and turning the oil trading into a casino,� Markey said. �The oil market needs to be returned to companies that use or sell fuel, not people who are trading paper for a profit.�

Dan Dicker, an oil trader and author of �Oil�s Endless Bid: Taming the Unreliable Price of Energy to Secure Our Economy,� said speculators comprise abut 97 percent of the oil futures market. He said a rule to rein in the wild speculation is overdue. �Regulators must make sure that those people who can access the futures market have a physical connection to oil,� he said. �If that happens, the wild swings on price would be dampened and the price of crude would be cut in half.�

remove the speculators and bring back sanity to gasoline prices ! but you moron republicans will still argue it's supply and demand raising the price. their right wing wacko mentality will never believe the republican party is only interested in making the rich richer. a weak mind is so easily misled

Conservative Gov. Scott Walker is ahead in his recall election in some polls by double digits, and in the Real Clear Politics poll by 6% (5-30-12). Why is this?

-Reduced taxes (Property taxes down .4%, the 1st decrease in 14 years!!!) (CNN & The Weekly Standard 4-16-12)

-Eliminated the $3.6 BILLION state deficit, while reducing taxes (Lou Dobbs Tonight 5-28-12)

-Walker's state will have a $150 Million budget SURPLUS by 2013! (Fox Business News 5-28-12)

-He has created 23,000 new jobs in the last year (CNN "Happening Now" 5-25-12)

-13,000 new business have been created (CNN "Happening Now" 5-25-12)

-Unemployment is down to 7.6%, a full point less then when he took office (Lou Dobbs Tonight 5-29-12)

-Wisconsin has jumped 25 spots in being "business friendly" (Chief Executive Magazine)

-Walker's deregulation of business and lower taxes have saved $1 BILLION (Suffolk University Study)

This recall was organized by public employee unions because Gov. Walker reformed collective bargaining rights that were strangling taxpayers and business in Wisconsin. We then witnessed the unions and democrats first response: to break into the state Capitol ( youtube.com/watch?v=G2s_vsP_KEk )destroy public property, urinate and deficate publicly, and democrat politicians running illegally to a neighboring state to avoid there Constitutional duty to vote.

Becuase Walker has done exactly the opposite of what Obama has done nationally, we see growth and prosperity for the first time in years in Wisconsin when the rest of the country is still in its 3rd year of depression under Obamanomics!

The first nail in the coffin of Liberalism was the "shellacking" in the Election of 2010. The 2nd nail in the coffin will be Walker's victory over the extreme left-wing and the public employee union. The final nail will be ridding ourselves of 4 years of failure upon failure by voting Obama out in November. It can't happen soon enough.

For years I've been fucking this married woman who is now 58yo. She was super shy and worried about cheating when we met but over the years has loosened up. She's submissive to me now, gives up the ass, swallows and lets cum her bareback. She even wears a collar with a heart on it when we are together and has even worn it in front of her family(they just think it's an accessory.

Well her husband is one of those wackjobs that invaded the us capitol and while he was there I was busting nuts all over his wife in their bed. Wiped my dick on his pillow and everything. Now he's planning on joining another stupid event during inauguration day and she wants a repeat of that night. Best part is she's thinking of taking pics to send him cause she's tired of his limp dick ass.