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Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants
CNET ^ | November 20, 2012 | Declan McCullagh

Posted on 11/20/2012 7:41:03 AM PST by yoe

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 that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.cnet.com ...


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1 posted on 11/20/2012 7:41:07 AM PST by yoe
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To: yoe

I guess if you want any privacy you should use the USPS.


2 posted on 11/20/2012 7:44:01 AM PST by DManA ( you)
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To: yoe

Everyone talked about how this could/would happen when the Patriot Act was introduced..


3 posted on 11/20/2012 7:45:37 AM PST by stuartcr ("When silence speaks, it speaks only to those that have already decided what they want to hear.")
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To: yoe
When do I get to read Leaky Leahy's emails?
4 posted on 11/20/2012 7:46:34 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the psychopath.)
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To: DManA

Email is not a secure medium, and trying to pretend that it is is foolish.

Passing laws to restrict the ability of third parties from reading email makes as much sense as passing laws to keep the rest of the neighborhood from listening in while you the guy next door yell at each other from your respective back porches.

Email is a party line that anyone can listen in on. If you don’t want everyone to hear, encrypt it.


5 posted on 11/20/2012 7:48:34 AM PST by jdege
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To: yoe

Who cares? If they read my FB postings, they know.


6 posted on 11/20/2012 7:49:09 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
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To: DManA

can this be used to find out what the EPA is up to ?


7 posted on 11/20/2012 7:50:17 AM PST by molson209
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To: yoe
But meanwhile EPA administrator Lisa Jackson has been using secret email aliases to avoid public disclosure and Congressional subpoenas.

Congress demands EPA’s secret email accounts
Claim: EPA Head Used Secret Email to Hide Documents
Only the deceit is transparent
House investigates EPA emails, as agency says administrators have two accounts
House GOP: Obama officials using secret emails to avoid oversight

8 posted on 11/20/2012 7:50:48 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Big Bird is a brood parasite: laid in our nest 43 years ago and we are still feeding him.)
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To: yoe

Welcome to the New Amerika Comrades...


9 posted on 11/20/2012 7:51:34 AM PST by dragonblustar (Allah Ain't So Akbar!)
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To: stuartcr

Just use code words. My family has been doing it for years. The volume of email traffic is so much that they would have to use programs that key in on certain words or phrases. They would then need a human to cipher thru all the garbage.


10 posted on 11/20/2012 7:54:15 AM PST by USAF80
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To: yoe

I will be arrested for being The Least Interesting Man In The World.


11 posted on 11/20/2012 7:57:21 AM PST by mnehring
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To: jdege

Invest in a secure certificate for your email, and you can encrypt your communications. I setup a basic email relay on some cheap home computer equipment and use a software certificate I purchased from Entrust for $20. In order to read my email, you have to have the proper hash key on the other end or be the certified recipient of the email. Since I don’t send much email, it doesn’t matter, but the peace of mind is worth it.

Purchase a TPM module for your existing computer or buy one with it already installed (pretty standard in newer stuff), and you can encrypt your thumb drives and local disks to prevent anyone from accessing it without a secure password.

I use multi-factor encryption/authentication for all of my stuff. If the FBI, CIA, or local law enforcement wanted to see what’s on my computers, they’d need my 31 character, 156 bit password or have a supercomputer powerful enough to crack 2048 bit encryption. Something tells me they won’t waste their time.


12 posted on 11/20/2012 7:58:15 AM PST by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: USAF80
And it might be time to go back to using Echelon bait. Everyone salt every email with a few suspect phrases so that there is too much for them to handle.

Sarin, plutonium, Pentagon, White House, bin Laden.

Oops, this is the Obama administration. New suspect words must be used:

Freedom, liberty, second amendment, Constitution, birth certificate, America.

13 posted on 11/20/2012 8:00:30 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Big Bird is a brood parasite: laid in our nest 43 years ago and we are still feeding him.)
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To: ilovesarah2012

My guess is a lot of people care. Not everyone uses Facebook, nor do they want the government reading their email.


14 posted on 11/20/2012 8:01:45 AM PST by EEGator
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To: yoe

The ever increasing noose is tightened around our necks.

Nice knowing you America.


15 posted on 11/20/2012 8:02:27 AM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal The 16th Amendment!)
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To: EEGator

It was a facetious comment. My point is that what I put on FB is much more damming than any of my emails, if the gov. is interested.


16 posted on 11/20/2012 8:03:28 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
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To: yoe

Use a 128 keyword to encrypt and maybe their great grand kids might crack it, or use what’s called “a one time pad” or to really play with whatever minds they have, just type gibberish with one or two key words in the clear to have them pull it.


17 posted on 11/20/2012 8:03:37 AM PST by SkyDancer (Live your life in such a way that the Westboro church shows up at your funeral)
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To: ilovesarah2012

Gotcha. Sometimes it’s hard to tell in the written word. :)


18 posted on 11/20/2012 8:05:15 AM PST by EEGator
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To: stuartcr

“Everyone talked about how this could/would happen when the Patriot Act was introduced.”

Not quite everyone. Republican statists assured everyone that it couldn’t happen here.

Both parties are accomplices in the embezzlement of American liberty.


19 posted on 11/20/2012 8:07:02 AM PST by Psalm 144 (For Chicken Little the sky is always falling.)
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To: EEGator

I know. But I do think it’s ridiculous how much info the gov. can get on us without a warrant. I guess we can thank the Patriot Act for that.


20 posted on 11/20/2012 8:08:42 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
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