02-16-2017, 08:25 PM
$tevie wrote:
National security letters are a type of government order for communications data sent to service providers. They are usually issued with a gag order, meaning the target is often unaware that records are being accessed, and they do not require a warrant.http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tw...SKBN15C00W
They have been available as a law enforcement tool since the 1970s, but their frequency and breadth expanded dramatically under the USA Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Tens of thousands of NSLs are issued annually.
In June of last year the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a Republican-backed proposal to expand the kinds of telephone and internet records the FBI could request under an NSL to include senders and recipients of emails, some information about websites a person visits and social media log-in data.
The legislation failed amid opposition from some major technology companies and civil liberties advocates, but lawmakers have said they intend to pursue the expansion again.
We have yet to see, $tevie, if Trump will beat Obama's record of 56 thousand issued in 2013.....
Over 300,000 NSLs have been issued in the past 10 years alone. The most NSLs issued in a single year was 56,507 in 2004. In 2013, President Obama’s Intelligence Review Group reported; that the government continues to issue an average of nearly 60 NSLs every day. By contrast, in 2000 (the year before the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act that loosened NSL standards), 8,500 NSLs were issued.https://www.eff.org/issues/national-secu...etters/faq
Yep, the big surprise, Obama enhanced Police State you all supported and defended, has now been handed to your ideological nemesis, Trump.....