FBI's push to clarify electronic authority raises privacy concerns

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued 192,499 national security letter requests from 2003 to 2006. Since then, the bureau has continued its reliance on the letters to gather information from telephone companies, banks, credit bureaus and Internet service providers. That last source is the focus of the Justice Department as it presses Congress to clarify the Electronic Communications Privacy Act so that the FBI can continue to gather some electronic records without a warrant from a judge.

The law already requires Internet service providers to produce the records, said Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Justice Department's national security division. But, he said, it currently causes confusion and the potential for unnecessary litigation, as some Internet companies have argued that they are not always obligated to comply with the FBI requests. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wants a timeout. The administration's proposal to change the law "raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns," Sen Leahy said. "While the government should have the tools that it needs to keep us safe, American citizens should also have protections against improper intrusions into their private electronic communications and online transactions," said Leahy, who plans to hold hearings in the fall on issues involving the law. Critics are lined up in opposition to what the Obama administration wants to do.