Let's go on Offense on Wiretapping

by Ben Masel

While I agree with Greenwald that the Democratic draft of the FISA Bill re-write is not bad, given that the last revision expires in February, it's worth slowing down and fighting for amendments which repair gaps in communiucations privacy which preceded the summer capitulation, notably with respect to location data collected by the cellular and other wireless providers.

Realtime location tracking was mandated by the "E-911" legislation of the late '90s, for use when YOU dialed 911 in an emergency, but as built out, the architecture knows your whereabouts any time the phone's powered to receive calls. More, a record is retained, and with the Statutes silent, some Courts have held you've waived any privacy in this data history by contracting with the carrier. The highest profile case of law enforcement access in Wisconsin was the election-morning tireslashing incident.

Representative Baldwin, has a key role, as she sits on both the Judiciary and Commerce Committees, both of which have jurisdiction, along with Intel. In prior conversations, she's expressed interest in legislating the location data, but I've yet to hear back on her interest in attaching the fix requiring the same level of warrant requirements as content interception to the pending Wiretap bill.

Please call to try and get Tammy, along with Gwen and Russ onboard. I'll be pitching Senator feingold at his listening session in Cross Plains Thursday. (2:45. Rosemary Garfoot Public Library, 2107 Julius Street)