[privacy] EFF and CDT File Brief to Prevent U.S. Government Phone Taps Without C ourt Order

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via The EFF.

[snip]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Democracy
and Technology (CDT) filed an amicus brief last Friday arguing that the
government needs a warrant to collect the content of a telephone call,
even if that content came from digits dialed on a phone keypad.

A federal magistrate judge in Texas asked EFF to file the brief in
response to requests from government investigators to use a pen
register or trap and trace device to collect all information entered
using the buttons on a telephone (including, for example, bank account
numbers or prescription refill requests). A "pen/trap" order must meet
a lower standard of judicial review than a typical phone-tapping
warrant, because only telephone numbers dialed from a certain phone --
not the content of the phone call itself -- are normally collected.

In their brief, EFF and CDT ask the judge to continue denying the
orders and argue that the government's request cannot be granted
without violating federal wiretap law and the Fourth Amendment.

[snip]

More:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_07.php#004785

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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