Approved as an amendment to the massive Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations bill, which the Senate approved late Thursday, the last-minute amendment, proposed by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., would extend long-standing phone surveillance laws to the Internet.
Among other things, the legislation would broaden "pen-register" and "trap-and- trace" laws -- which allow law enforcers to obtain the phone records of suspected criminals -- to cover Internet communications.
Similar provisions have been proposed in the past but have failed to go forward amid concerns that they may erode online civil liberties.
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) Associate Director Alan Davidson said that in the wake of Tuesdays attacks, he expects to see a wave of legislation, ostensibly aimed at beefing up law enforcement and surveillance efforts, which could undermine many basic freedoms.
"This is a preview of the rush to legislate that were likely to see in response to this weeks attacks," Davidson said. "Our hope is that cooler heads will prevail."
Under existing trap-and-trace and pen-register laws, law enforcement agents can obtain records for a suspected criminals phone that include information on what numbers the suspect called, as well as the numbers of those who may have called the suspect.
The evidentiary standard for obtaining a trap-and-trace order is far lower than the standard for obtaining a wiretap order, in large part because trap-and-trace ability only allows law enforcers to obtain simple numerical information, Davidson said.
Civil liberties advocates fear that if trap-and-trace is extended to the Internet, law enforcers will easily be able to obtain a vast amount of private information about virtually any Internet surfer suspected of committing a crime.
Whereas in the context of phone communication, trap-and-trace and pen-register records only include phone numbers, similarly configured Internet records would give law enforcement agents access to far more explicit information, Davidson said, adding that e-mail addresses, Web sites and even the terms that users entered in search engines could be easily obtained by law enforcement agents if the legislation is approved.
Davidson warned that civil-liberties advocates on Capitol Hill seeking to prevent Congress from passing legislation that could crimp personal freedoms could face a daunting task in the months ahead.
"If youre forced to give up on the American way of life and the fundamental freedoms that are a part of that, then the bad guys win," Davidson said, adding that he hopes the amendment will be defeated before the appropriations package passes the full Congress.
In addition to expanding Internet surveillance capabilities, the amendment calls for several studies into the governments ability to respond to terrorist attacks. A spokeswoman for Hatch declined to comment, saying that the senator may issue a statement on his proposal later.
David McGuire, Newsbytes
