Surveillance Hawks Sabotaged a Vote to Stop the FBI From Collecting Your Internet History
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bv8z7q/surveillance-hawks-sabotaged-a-vote-to-stop-the-fbi-from-collecting-your-internet-history
A bipartisan coalition of privacy advocates in Congress has fractured after national security hawks meddled with a proposal that would have stopped government agencies from collecting Americans’ web browsing data without a warrant.
The proposal was introduced in the House of Representatives as part of a bill to reauthorize key sections of the Patriot Act, the sprawling surveillance law that was passed in the aftermath of 9/11. The amendment was originally meant to stop federal agencies from warrantlessly collecting web browsing and search history. But after a last-minute modification from House Intelligence Committee leader Adam Schiff (D-CA), privacy advocates have dropped their support, saying that the modified proposal fails to constrain the government’s surveillance authorities and explicitly leaves immigrants and undocumented people without protection.