A US Senate panel approved a bill to boost email privacy protections in a vote Thursday that followed widespread uproar over the FBI probe that toppled CIA director David Petraeus.
The measure, which if enacted would require police to obtain a warrant in most cases to access email accounts, drew immediate praise from privacy activists.
Senate judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy, who sponsored the measure, “after decades of the erosion of Americans’ privacy rights on many fronts, we finally have a rare opportunity for progress on privacy protection.”
Now if you believe for one instance that this proposed measure is for your protection, you are as stupid as they think you are. Politicians are covering their own butts. Imagine, if the Obama administration is willing to destroy the career of one of his own appointees, what would they be willing to do to anyone that “might” piss them off?
Leahy’s measure requires the government to obtain a search warrant based on probable cause in order to obtain email content from a third-party service provider, with some exceptions in cases of national security or imminent threats.
It also calls for the government to notify an individual whose electronic communication has been disclosed, and provide that individual with a copy of the search warrant used.
Even if passed, emails will still not be private – thanks to those concerned politicians in D.C. who gave Obama the right to arrest and detain without due process of law anyone he thinks “might be” a terrorists, the government can still use warrantless searches under the Patriot Act to invade your privacy at any time. Remember, DHS has already defined almost everyone within the confines of the U.S. as possible terrorists, with the exception of real terrorists, or progressives, or DHS.
