Mike Peterson
A coalition of tech companies, including a group that represents Apple, is calling on Congress to protect user browser history from warrantless searches.
In May, an amendment to the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act that would require the Justice Department to obtain a warrant before searching someone's browsing and search histories failed in the U.S. Senate by one vote. Now, as the U.S. House of Representatives considers the act, tech companies are asking House leaders to add those protections to the bill.
On Friday, Mozilla, Reddit and Twitter penned a letter to House leaders urging them to explicitly prohibit warrantless collection of internet search and browsing data.
In addition to the entities named above, advocacy group Reform Government Surveillance signed on to the letter. The group represents major tech companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook.
A group of more than 50 civil liberties organizations also signed a letter on May 18 to House leaders to adopt warrantless search protections.
The USA Freedom Reauthorization Act would reauthorize key surveillance laws in the U.S., including some that date back to the USA Patriot Act in 2001.
Charles Martin
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5 Comments
Where would they be getting browser histories from?
Browser histories should only be stored on the device, which would require a warrant to access anyways.
Maybe they’re referring to when you take your electronic devices over the boarder... they are subject to search (arguably).
Search history is saved by search engine companies and possibly on your device. That would also require a warrant.
If we don't get freedom I want communism. They can at least pay for my education, healthcare, housing and food if I'm gonna be spied on and manipulated by a huge military industrial complex anyway. I thought freedom from this crap was the whole justification for putting up with the cruelty of capitalism.