Privacy advocates are calling on the House of Representatives to pass a law requiring the FBI to obtain a warrant to display your search history.
Angela Lang / CNET
A group of technology companies are calling on Congress to protect your browsing history, which could be accessed without an FBI search warrant unless lawmakers pass laws that prevent this.
On May 13, the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act that requires the government to obtain a warrant before it searches America’s browsing and search histories. The bipartisan amendment proposed by Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Senator Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, was not adopted with one vote.
Now are data protection officers and technology companies Ask the House of Representatives to review these safeguards. Mozilla, Reddit, Twitter, and Patreon, along with organizations like Reform Government Surveillance, Engine, and i2Coalition, signed a letter on Friday asking the house leaders to incorporate Wyden and Daines’ amendment.
“Our users demand that we act as responsible administrators of their private information, and our industry is based on that trust,” the letter said. “Americans deserve to keep their online searches and surfing private and only available to the government through a warrant.”
Under the USA Freedom Reauthorization ActCongress has tried to restore government surveillance powers that expired in March with the Patriot Act. Legislators have included provisions in legislation, such as an amendment that would require external legal experts to provide the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court with insight into privacy and civil liberties.
The bill was sent to the House of Representatives on May 14 without the Wyden-Daines amendment. If the bill becomes law, the FBI can view Americans’ web browser history without guarantee.
The group of technology companies isn’t the only one asking the house to take data protection measures. More than 50 civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Fight for the Future and Human Rights Watch, as well as privacy advocates such as DuckDuckGo and the Center for Democracy & Technology. signed a letter on May 18 to the leaders of the house to accept this protection.