Ellen Nakashima reports:
The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.
The administration wants to add just four words — “electronic communication transactional records” — to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge’s approval. Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user’s browser history. It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the “content” of e-mail or other Internet communication.
Read more in the Washington Post.
In related coverage, Pete Yost of the Associated Press reports on the FBI’s defense of its guidelines for domestic surveillance.
Earlier this week, the The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday asked FBI field offices in 29 states and Washington, D.C., to turn over records the FBI collected on race and ethnicity in various communities. The agency fears the FBI’s data gathering and mapping practices will invite racial profiling by law enforcement. Nick Divito covers the story on Courthouse News.