So DEA has a secret database of some significant subset of American's phone records compiled with zero court oversight. Lovely. But the first question that spri

So DEA has a secret database of some significant subset of American's phone records compiled with zero court oversight. Lovely. But the first question that springs to mind is: Wy would DEA not try to vacuum up email and other metadata records too? The law the DEA used to vacuum up Americans’ phone records is 21 USC 876, which authorizes it to demand any info the “Attorney General finds relevant or material to the investigation.” (No room for misuse there, right?) But if 21 USC 876 lets DEA nab one metadata database, why not others? Cell phone tower records? SMS records? Email To:/From: lines? One answer is that Silicon Valley companies tend to push back against legally dubious surveillance requests. (Yes, it's true that if they lose they have to comply or go to jail, but at least they tend to fight.) Examples I can think of offhand: Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook began requiring warrants for email content in 2010 even though the law remains unsettled nationally. There was Google vs. DOJ in 2006, Yahoo vs NSA in 2007-2008, Amazon vs DOJ in 2007, Facebook vs. Virginia in 2009, and Twitter vs DOJ in 2010 (though I recall that was notification, not litigation). My CNET article in early 2013 disclosed Google was fighting the FBI over NSLs in two different courts: http://www.cnet.com/news/justice-department-tries-to-force-google-to-hand-over-user-data/ http://www.cnet.com/news/justice-department-tries-to-force-g... On the other hand, AT&T/VZ/etc. -- which also provide email hosting! -- have long-standing surveillance “partnerships” with the Feds, as I wrote about here: http://www.cnet.com/news/surveillance-partnership-between-nsa-and-telcos-points-to-at-t-verizon/ http://www.cnet.com/news/surveillance-partnership-between-ns... Sigh. PS: A NYT article covering much the same ground, for those of you who don't subscribe to the WSJ: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/us/dea-kept-telephone-records-on-americans-justice-department-says.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/us/dea-kept-telephone-reco...