The spying bill passed by Congress this weekend, says that:
With respect to an authorization of an acquisition under section 105B, the Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General may direct a person to immediately provide the Government with all information, facilities, and assistance necessary to accomplish the acquisition in such a manner as will protect the secrecy of the acquisition and produce a minimum of interference with the services that such person is providing to the target.
105B requires only that “reasonable procedures [be] in place for determining that the acquisition of foreign intelligence information under this section concerns persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States.” Court oversight is limited to verifying, after the fact, that these “procedures” are in fact “reasonable.” Notice that it’s easy to imagine that some domestic-to-domestic calls or emails could “concern” a person located outside of the United States.
We’re inching ever closer to giving the executive branch the power to issue Writs of Assistance.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.