Wired: Wiretap Bill Gets Third Degree

[Owen Blacker]

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http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47111,00.html

| Wiretap Bill Gets Third Degree 
| By Declan McCullagh <declan@wired.com>
| 2:00 a.m. Sep. 26, 2001 PDT  
|  
| WASHINGTON -- President Bush's proposal to permit Internet surveillance
| without a court order drew sharp questions from senators on Tuesday.   
| 
| Members of the Senate Judiciary committee <http://judiciary.senate.gov/>
| appeared divided over whether the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act
| <http://www.wartimeliberty.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20/198219&mode=nested>
| (MATA), which the Justice Department sent to Congress this week, was a
| vital anti-terrorism measure or an infringement of privacy.   
| 
| It wasn't a partisan split: Left-leaning Dianne Feinstein
| <http://feinstein.senate.gov/> of California and conservative icon Chuck
| Grassley <http://grassley.senate.gov/> of Iowa both wondered during
| Tuesday's hearing <http://judiciary.senate.gov/hr092501f.htm> whether the
| administration's bill could be reworked -- just a bit -- to resolve some
| of their worries. 
|  
| Feinstein suggested that MATA could be temporary: "What if we had a
| sunset on them of five years? Some of these sections, on technology and
| wiretaps, a five-year sunset to make sure they haven't been abused."   
| 
| Ironically, Feinstein co-sponsored a similar bill this month, called the
| Combating Terrorism Act of 2001
| <http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46852,00.html>, that also
| expands FBI wiretapping powers -- and does not include an expiration
| date. The Senate unanimously approved
| <http://www.senate.gov/legislative/vote1071/vote_00279.html> that measure
| on Sept. 13, just two days after the bloody attacks on the World Trade
| Center and the Pentagon.   
| 
| Replied Attorney General John Ashcroft, the only witness to testify: "We
| would then run the risk of having these rules expire at a time when we
| would need them. If I believed terrorism would sunset in five years, I
| would agree to that. We need to err on the side of having tools
| available."   
| 
| Grassley zeroed in on the section of MATA
| <http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200109/092001.html> that permits
| prosecutors to authorize online surveillance -- using, for instance, the
| FBI's Carnivore system -- for 48-hour periods without a judge's approval.
| Current law allows police to record the numbers of incoming and outgoing
| phone calls in certain situations, and Ashcroft said MATA would extend
| that rule to the Internet world by allowing the interception of e-mail
| headers and addresses of websites visited.   
| 
| "Some of that information contains some information about what the mail
| contains," Grassley said. "Wouldn't you be going farther?"   
| 
| In his response, Ashcroft said he believed "To:" and "From:" lines of
| e-mail could be intercepted without a court order, but "Subject:" lines
| would require a judge's signature. "We're not asking that we get content
| or the subject," he replied. "We want information on who sent it and to
| whom it was sent."   
| 
| It's too early to predict what the judiciary committee will do: A vote on
| MATA is scheduled for next week, and chairman Patrick Leahy
| <http://leahy.senate.gov/> (D-Vermont) is still meeting with Bush
| administration officials to try to craft a compromise bill. Besides, it's
| easy to criticize a bill in a hearing, but more difficult to vote against
| a measure viewed as a way to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks.   
| 
| On the other side is another bipartisan team: Orrin Hatch
| <http://hatch.senate.gov/>, a Utah Republican and former chairman, and
| New York Democrat Chuck Schumer <http://schumer.senate.gov/>. Both said
| that Americans have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the
| identities of their e-mail correspondents, or the addresses of Web pages
| they visit.   
| 
| "No reasonable expectation of privacy exists," said Hatch, who has
| previously sponsored a related measure. "Your legislation would make it
| clear what the court has already held."   
| 
| In the hallway after the hearing, Schumer told reporters there should be
| no "expectation of privacy" -- which would trigger additional legal
| requirements for prosecutors to follow -- in e-mail header and Web
| address information.   
| 
| On Monday, the House Judiciary committee held a hearing
| <http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47086,00.html> during which
| legislators urged caution before rewriting immigration and wiretap laws. 
| 
| Copyright (c) 2001 Wired Digital Inc., a Lycos Network site. All rights
| reserved. <http://hotwired.lycos.com/home/copyright.html> 

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