No Such Thing as 'Too Much' Wiretapping Power

The federal government isn't exactly suffering from a lack of wiretapping authority as it is. After all, the Patriot Act enables law enforcement to obtain key information about a suspect, including who they e-mail and what websites they visit, without needing to so much as display probable cause or go before a judge for a warrant.

But the Obama administration says it needs more power; once you recall that the previous president was George "unitary executive" Bush, you'll begin to grasp just how much power that means -- and question whether it's really necessary.

Writing in The New York Times, Charlie Savage reports that the administration is preparing to lend its support to a package of reforms that would require, among other things, that all communications providers who transmit encrypted messages -- think BlackBerrys -- must be able to decode them for law enforcement, a mandate that would certainly make the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other beacons of freedom proud.

The Obama administration also wants to require foreign communications firms to open a state-side office dedicated solely to "performing intercepts," according to the Times, and to require developers of peer-to-peer software to "redesign their service to allow interception." (Read more after the jump.)

"We’re not talking expanding authority," Valerie Caproni, general counsel to the FBI, insists in an interview with the paper. "We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”

But that's not what civil liberties advocates say.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Seth Schoen, for instance, argues the reforms the Obama administration seeks would effectively outlaw secure encryption technology, a policy law enforcement officials have been pushing for years. And the ACLU makes the salient point: with the government's wiretapping power already as broad as it is, do we really need to expand it more?

Speaking to the Times, the Center for Democracy and Technology's James Dempsey said the administration is seeking to fundamentally change how the Internet works. “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”

Now, question: if you're uncomfortable with Google keeping a record of each and every Internet search you've made over the last decade, how would you feel if the FBI had that information? Safer? Violated? Or just embarrassed about how you once looked up the lyrics to a Matchbox 20 song?

Photo Credit: Byung Kyu Park