FBI Director Wants More Snooping Power

Tech Firms Say FBI Wants Browsing History without Warrant

Bureau director says legislation fixes "a typo" that's hampering progress.

Aaron Souppouris | June 7, 2016

Tech companies and privacy advocates are warning against new legislation that would give the FBI the ability to access "electronic communication transactional records" (ECTRs) without a warrant in spy and terrorism cases. ECTRs include high-level information on what sites a person visited, the time spent on those sites, email metadata, location information and IP addresses. To gain access to this data, a special agent in charge of a bureau field office need only write a "national security letter" (NSL) that doesn't require a judge's approval.
It's worth noting that ECTRs don't amount to a full browsing history. If a suspected terrorist were reading this article, the FBI would only see they read "engadget.com" and how long for, rather than the specific page links. Additionally, the ECTRs won't include the content of emails, search queries, or form content, but will feature metadata, so the FBI would know who someone is messaging and when.

"In this March 1 photo, FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington." Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-wants-access-to-internet-browser-history-without-a-warrant-in-terrorism-and-spy-cases/2016/06/06/2d257328-2c0d-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html

<more at http://www.engadget.com/2016/06/07/fbi-ecpa-ammendment-browsing-metadata-no-warrant/; related articles and links: http://article.wn.com/view/2016/06/07/FBI_wants_access_to_internet_browser_history_without_a_warra/ (FBI wants access to internet browser history without a warrant in some cases. June 7, 2016) and http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/06/fbi-wants-access-to-internet-browser-history-without-a-warrant-in-some-cases/ (FBI wants access to internet browser history without a warrant in some cases. June 6, 2016)>