Electronic surveillance

Senate temporarily votes down controversial online surveillance expansion

Congress has failed to pass an expansion of online surveillance powers for monitoring suspected terrorists — at least for now. In a vote today, the Senate fell just short of the 60 votes needed to adopt an amendment brought by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), mustering only 58 supporters. But the proposal could be up for reconsideration soon: asReuters notes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) switched his vote to "No" in order to bring it up again, as soon as later this week.

The measure, introduced as an amendment to a spending bill, would allow the FBI to collect targets’ browsing history, email records, and other electronic metadata through a national security letter — a method of surveillance that carries relatively little oversight and can bar internet service providers and other recipients from revealing its existence. It would also permanently extend the Patriot Act’s "lone wolf" provision, which allows surveillance of suspects who aren’t tied to a larger terrorist organization. Previously, a 2008 memo limited national security letters to demanding information equivalent to telephone subscriber data and billing records.