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This modifies FISA section 501 (Business Records aka PATRIOT 215, used in Verizon warrant) to be limited in use to the FBI investigating international terrorism

This modifies FISA section 501 (Business Records aka PATRIOT 215, used in Verizon warrant) to be limited in use to the FBI investigating international terrorism and requiring "specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the thing is relevant to an authorized investigation (other than a threat assessment)". I am not a lawyer. Is that enough to prevent requests for all information, and what is the purpose of the modification to limit it to the FBI? I thought that "international terrorism" investigations would normally be handled by other agencies. Apart from that it requires reporting of all requests using this specific law to Congress, and making that information public "[I]n a manner consistent with the protection of the national security of the United States." edit: the law being modified is Sections 1861 and 1862 at http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/50C36.txt http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/50C36.txt

mpyne 13y ago
The FBI limit is probably because the companies in question are domestic in nature. The FBI is not under the same prohibition as the NSA is; they are allowed to investigate crimes involving persons overseas, while the NSA is forbidden from data mining Americans. So it would help to compartmentalize the Verizon-style phone metadata searches away from NSA. Of course FBI is still able to share with NSA and CIA, but they would have to do the work of obtaining warrants with specific information. For the rest, IANAL so can't really help. For finding the laws the House of Representative website has an archive, or you could find the Gov't Printing Office website.
- socillion 13y ago
  Interesting about the FBI, I always thought they were limited to domestic investigations. On the topic of this amendment, it looks like it does 3 things: 1) changes an ambiguous "or" clause that currently only requires that a request be "to protect against international terrorism" to requiring an investigation by the FBI 2) requires "specific and articulable facts" instead of "reasonable grounds", and specifically requires it for each and every "tangible thing" 3) removes the clause permitting collection of data on anyone "in contact with, or known to" a foreigner under investigation. IANAL but it does look like a great amendment, albeit only reining in section 215.
  - mpyne 13y ago
    The FBI has no authority to operate within other nations, so that usually makes the domestic/foreign distinction a moot point. But there is nothing forbidding the FBI from operating abroad if the host nation allows for a given investigation. What's more relevant, the FBI has long been involved in domestic investigations of foreigners (exactly as we might use PRISM for, in fact). In fact the FBI technically is the NSA's liaison to Google, Facebook, MS, etc.; NSA has no authority to interface with them directly so they hand it off to FBI, FBI is the one who actually works with the domestic companies.

mpyne 13y ago

The FBI limit is probably because the companies in question are domestic in nature. The FBI is not under the same prohibition as the NSA is; they are allowed to investigate crimes involving persons overseas, while the NSA is forbidden from data mining Americans. So it would help to compartmentalize the Verizon-style phone metadata searches away from NSA. Of course FBI is still able to share with NSA and CIA, but they would have to do the work of obtaining warrants with specific information. For the rest, IANAL so can't really help. For finding the laws the House of Representative website has an archive, or you could find the Gov't Printing Office website.

socillion 13y ago
Interesting about the FBI, I always thought they were limited to domestic investigations. On the topic of this amendment, it looks like it does 3 things: 1) changes an ambiguous "or" clause that currently only requires that a request be "to protect against international terrorism" to requiring an investigation by the FBI 2) requires "specific and articulable facts" instead of "reasonable grounds", and specifically requires it for each and every "tangible thing" 3) removes the clause permitting collection of data on anyone "in contact with, or known to" a foreigner under investigation. IANAL but it does look like a great amendment, albeit only reining in section 215.
- mpyne 13y ago
  The FBI has no authority to operate within other nations, so that usually makes the domestic/foreign distinction a moot point. But there is nothing forbidding the FBI from operating abroad if the host nation allows for a given investigation. What's more relevant, the FBI has long been involved in domestic investigations of foreigners (exactly as we might use PRISM for, in fact). In fact the FBI technically is the NSA's liaison to Google, Facebook, MS, etc.; NSA has no authority to interface with them directly so they hand it off to FBI, FBI is the one who actually works with the domestic companies.