The Senate Rejects FBI Spying on Our Emails Without a Warrant by TWO VOTES (but It’s Not Over)

The bill would have allowed the FBI to have even more secret snooping powers, including the ability to request email data and Internet browsing activity from telecom companies like Google without a warrant. This is far from over, as national security state loving Orwellian poster boys like senators John McCain and Mitch McConnell will likely push ahead for a vote anyway…

Via Tech Dirt:

Just yesterday we wrote about how the Senate was, somewhat ridiculously, rapidly pushing forward plans on a vote for an amendment to the laws concerning what information the FBI can gather using National Security Letters (NSLs). Despite the fact that the big push for this bill began a few weeks ago, and the fact that it had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Orlando shooting, cynical Senators including John McCain and Mitch McConnell pointed to the shootings in Orlando as a reason that this expansion of FBI surveillance powers was needed. Of course, the reality is that it wasn’t needed, and the law is really there to paper over the fact that the FBI has already been widely abusing its NSL powers to get information it’s not allowed to request.

After a vocal debate this morning, the measure (somewhat surprisingly) failed to pass, but by just two votes. It need 60 votes to move forward (it was a vote for “cloture” on debate, which requires 60 votes), and it only received 58. But McConnell already made it clear that the amendment will be reconsidered soon, which means he’s likely going to be pushing strongly to get those two remaining votes.

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