(credit: Dave Newman)
Major tech companies, advocacy groups, and at least one senator have publicly proclaimed their opposition to two bills currently working their way through Congress. The two pieces of proposed legislation would each significantly expand use of National Security Letters to include "Electronic Communication Transactional Records"—better known as metadata.
As Ars has reported previously, federal investigators issue tens of thousands of NSLs each year to banks, ISPs, car dealers, insurance companies, doctors, and others in terrorism and espionage investigations. The letters demand personal information, and they don't need a judge's signature, much less a showing of probable cause. They also come with a default gag to the recipient that forbids the disclosure of the NSL to the public or the target.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on one of those provisions as an amendment to a bill called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2015 (S. 356). The provision would allow NSLs to target "account number, login history, length of service (including start date)…Internet Protocol address…routing, or transmission information…" and more.
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