Google, Facebook warn of ‘abuse’ if feds can seize e-mails without a warrant

Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other Internet companies are urging the Senate to rebuff federal regulators who want the power to seize emails without a warrant.

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have asked senators to exempt them from requirements in pending legislation that would require government officials to obtain a warrant before ordering companies to hand over content. Silicon Valley giants, joined by privacy advocates, warned that granting the exemption would threaten privacy rights. "Personal privacy would suffer, and the potential for government abuse would expand dramatically, because an individual or company whose records were sought would have no opportunity to object. This would turn civil proceedings into fishing expeditions at a huge cost to individual privacy and the confidentiality of proprietary data," the groups wrote in the letter.