House panel to hold hearings on govt.’s obsession with spying on emails, texts in era of terrorism
11/30/2015 / By usafeaturesmedia
(Freedom.news) Despite renewed attention to combatting terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks, a House panel plans hearings in the coming week focused on boosting electronic privacy, the Washington Examiner reported.
The House Judiciary Committee scheduled a hearing on Dec. 1 that will examine the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. That measure, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., would require law enforcement agencies to obtain warrants before they could examine email or other stored electronic communications that include video and text messages.
The measure would, in essence, modernize the Fourth Amendment to protect electronic data “against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
The WE reported that lawmakers have attempted to get the measure passed for years. The bill would update a law passed in 1986 that current legislation sponsors say is outdated because it took effect before the advent of email or storage “clouds.”
However, sponsors have been inundated by objections from federal agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission because they lack power to obtain warrants and believe the measure would hinder their investigative abilities.
“Electronic communications often provide critical evidence to our investigations, as email and other message content, including text and chat room messages, can establish timing, knowledge or relationships in certain cases, or awareness that certain statements to investors were false or misleading,” Andrew Ceresney, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement Director, told the Judiciary Committee in September, according to the WE.
Also, intelligence and defense hawks oppose the measure because they believe it would ultimately harm national security in an era where terrorist groups like ISIS are increasing turning to encrypted electronic communications in order to plot and carry out attacks like the recent shootings in Paris, which left 129 people dead and hundreds wounded.
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That said, however, Collapse.news reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security actually had intelligence on half of the terrorists who pulled off the Paris attack months before it was carried out. It wasn’t clear if French authorities were notified, but the U.S. often shares such intelligence with allies.
In recent weeks Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, hinted that a newly passed measure ending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) warrantless collection of data by the National Security Agency also should be reexamined to make sure intelligence officials have the ability to root out terrorist plots before they occur.
But advocates of electronic privacy say terrorism fears should not deter lawmakers from supporting the Yoder-Polis bill. Also, congressional supporters say it adequately balances privacy and security.
“It’s imperative that any reforms made to the law protect Americans’ privacy and provide law enforcement the tools they need to do their jobs and keep us safe,” Jessica Collins, a spokeswoman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told the Washington Examiner.
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