Senate vote allows FBI access to your browsing history without a warrant

[Clueless_Gamer]

"The US has just voted to allow the FBI and other security agencies to access American citizens’ web histories without requiring a warrant. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT) were trying to install privacy protections into the Patriot Act, but the amendment failed to pass by a single vote."

 

"The Patriot act (Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism act) is a controversial piece of legislation that was made into law following the September 11 attacks. It gives law enforcement extra powers of surveillance, including record and private property searchers without notifying the individuals.

As reported by The Register, an addition to the Patriot Act, which is due to be renewed this week, would allow agencies to collect people’s browsing histories without requiring a warrant.

Wyden and Daines led the charge in trying to prevent the Patriot act changes by installing a warrant requirement, but the bipartisan amendment fell short of the 60-vote threshold by one vote, with many of those who were likely to vote in favor, including former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, absent."

 

“Is it right at this unique time when millions of law-abiding citizens are at home, for the government to be able to spy on their internet searches and web browsing without a warrant?” said Wyden.

“Should law-abiding Americans have to worry about their government looking over their shoulders from the moment they wake up in the morning and turn on their computers to when they go to bed at night? I believe the answer is no. But that’s exactly what the government has the power to do without our amendment.”

The addition to the Patriot act was drafted by Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Not only does it allow the collection of search and browsing data in section 215 of the law without probable cause, but that data is also likely to be stored and made available to multiple US agencies.

With Covid-19 causing millions of Americans to use the internet more than ever, the vote has come as a blow to privacy advocates. “The Patriot Act should be repealed in its entirety, set on fire and buried in the ground,” Evan Greer, the deputy director of Fight For The Future, told Motherboard. “It’s one of the worst laws passed in the last century, and there is zero evidence that the mass surveillance programs it enables have ever saved a single human life.”

 

 

My Take -

 

How convenient is it, they had the vote when half the country is shut down, and the senators who would vote in favor were absent. that's wrong and absurd.

 

 

Source -

 

https://www.techspot.com/news/85226-senate-vote-allows-fbi-access-browsing-history-without.html#commentsOffset

[Windows9]

Looks like were going to delete our history all the time before it is sold

[SolarNova]

More and more reason to use a VPN service located outside the 5-9-14 eyes alliance member countries.

[HumdrumPenguin]

11 minutes ago, Windows9 said:

Looks like were going to delete our history all the time before it is sold

More like not keeping any history to begin with.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

'Murica be like:

- 3,000 deaths 20 years ago: it's so frightening! Take all my rights!

- 85,000 deaths today, and counting: it's just the flu! Liberate Michigan!

[Energycore]

I wonder if from the coding side it's enough to have an extension that periodically erases your browser history, or are we going to have to prevent the browser from writing to the history entirely. Like, does this reform allow the FBI to remote into my computer at any time and read off my browser history once every second.

 

Just now, HumdrumPenguin said:

More like not keeping any history to begin with.

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking.

 

This is comparable to the draconic DRM from big companies like EA and Ubisoft. A move out of fear, that affects the law abiding citizen way more than the actual bad guy who was using Tor anyway, unless they're a terrible criminal.

 

If this passes all semi-tech savvy internet users will be in Tor, which could mean a lot more false positives for the FBI.

 

Also *furiously working on app that keeps your browsing history in a 2-way encrypted file independent from your browser*

[minibois]

Dear Americans,

Please check your voter registration at vote.gov.

Sincercerly,

A non-American.

 

This is a perfect example of shooting a shotgun to kill a mosquito.

"But this does not matter if you're a law abiding citizen"

As if government agencies' information has never leaked before. Plus think about all the lobbyist/corrupt people out there.

[HumdrumPenguin]

3 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I wonder if from the coding side it's enough to have an extension that periodically erases your browser history, or are we going to have to prevent the browser from writing to the history entirely. Like, does this reform allow the FBI to remote into my computer at any time and read off my browser history once every second.

 

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking.

 

This is comparable to the draconic DRM from big companies like EA and Ubisoft. A move out of fear, that affects the law abiding citizen way more than the actual bad guy who was using Tor anyway, unless they're a terrible criminal.

 

If this passes all semi-tech savvy internet users will be in Tor, which could mean a lot more false positives for the FBI.

 

Also *furiously working on app that keeps your browsing history in a 2-way encrypted file independent from your browser*

Private browsing via Tor and VPNs considerably lower down your internet speed. I'd rather simply keep no history and continue using it the way I've done so far.

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

Private browsing via Tor and VPNs considerably lower down your internet speed. I'd rather simply keep no history and continue using it the way I've done so far.

So do modern browsers have a Toggle or a Property that allows us to disable keeping history at all?

 

Sometimes I've recovered crucial info from browsing history so losing that would suck.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

6 minutes ago, Energycore said:

So do modern browsers have a Toggle or a Property that allows us to disable keeping history at all?

Did they ever remove it?

I checked Vivaldi, minimum is "session only". Which I think is also the default for in cognito mode.

Still, I assume this goes beyond locally stored history, or it would be pretty dumb (like those "blocked sites for copyright infringement!" which are only blocked at the ISP's DNS).

 

[GreatnessRD]

Man, the U.S government is trash. 

[RejZoR]

Also, isn't it convenient that federal employees are excluded from this thing... Just like the earn it bullshit bill. Expose everyone, but the pigs around the bowl. Those pigs have special privileges that allow them to use the encryption. Or have any kind of browsing history...

[Jotoco]

11 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

The US is just turning into another China

Also this browsing history probably extends beyond what is stored locally on your phone/computer

If you use any services provided by Google you know they already log your activity. So will probably get looked at as well, without your permission.

Agreed. With each passing day US is more like China, just without all the manufacturing.

 

This illusion of a republic or democracy is just another illusion, really. 

[Curious Pineapple]

The US is far beyond holding arms to protect themselves from a corrupt government, the corrupt government already owns them.

 

ISP's and other online services will hold history, deleting your local browsing history will accomplish nothing.

 

I can smell the freedom from here, smells like a rotting cabbage

[Arika]

To those that are saying "well I'll just delete my browsing history or turn it off" they would be getting it from your ISP, doesn't matter if its on your own browser 

[Kamina]

Then they wonder why nobody trusts the US government and why people come up with bizarre conspiracy theories like 5G.

[Rolling2405]

9 hours ago, Clueless_Gamer said:

fell short of the 60-vote threshold by one vote, with many of those who were likely to vote in favor, including former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, absent."

I'm guessing that they can reintroduce the bill and try again though right?

[Rolling2405]

8 hours ago, RejZoR said:

federal employees are excluded from this thing

They are????  Are you sure?

[Dominik W]

9 hours ago, Clueless_Gamer said:

How convenient is it, they had the vote when half the country is shut down, and the senators who would vote in favor were absent. that's wrong and absurd.

Exactly! That pisses me off. And warrants aren't that hard to obtain in the first place, and there's nothing wrong with a requirement like that. Requiring a warrant should be a no-brainer! 

[Dominik W]

8 minutes ago, Thomas001 said:

I'm guessing that they can reintroduce the bill and try again though right?

I think they can, I'm not sure. But hopefully that is possible.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

i'm so happy i don't live in the USA!!!

 

also the people running Tor and VPN companies will be laughing pretty hard right now. 

[DefinitelyNotAComputer]

What the actual heck? I feel like a reason they want this is because, while it is easy to obtain a warrant, the person of interest has the right to refuse. They probably think this is for the greater good, but really, all it's gonna cause is a bunch of pissed off Americans.

[BuckGup]

This really isn't new and has been going on for years. It just seems like a big deal but the NSA has been collecting a lot more info on you than browsing history 

[dat_boi_fluff]

US gov: Quick create a distraction.

 

Legislation that is stupid and going to affect more innocent people than the "terroists" :WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!

[GDRRiley]

I swear the patriot act is being turned into everything it wasn't suppose to be and even then it should be gone after the next time it comes up for re authorization because it needs that. to all who live in the US around that time hound your representatives.