Congress is apparently responding to the Petraeus affair and the newfound concern about privacy in the digital age by writing an update to the law that dispenses with all pretense and just authorizes more warrantless email surveillance: 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 Patr ...

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Congress is apparently responding to the Petraeus affair and the newfound concern about privacy in the digital age by writing an update to the law that dispenses with all pretense and just authorizes more warrantless email surveillance: 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 SEC and the FEC -- to access Americans'emails...

Authors Bio:

OpedNews volunteer from 2005 to 2013.

Amanda Lang was a wonderful member of the Opednews team, and the first volunteer editor, for a good number of years being a senior editor. She passed away summer 2014.