Re: more on FBI credit search access

[smb@research.att.com]

	 Hm, maybe someone could just check out the article (Sat Jul 17 NYT p.
	 7). This is a distinctly different interpretation.

I already looked at the article.  It didn't say much.  But I tend
to agree with Shari Steele's explanation, and in fact posted a
similar analysis to comp.org.eff.talk.  Here's what I said:

	Without more detail than appeared in the NY Times article (and
	yes, I did go and check it, too), it's impossible to say what
	that bill really means.  But I strongly suspect that it's less
	of a change than one might think

	The government already has the right to conduct wiretaps
	against non- Americans without benefit of a court order.  See
	the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 USC 1801, if
	memory serves).  Conversely, the prohibitions against
	eavesdropping on Americans under that act are quite strict, to
	the point of requiring destruction of any inadvertent
	recordings that would not be acceptable under the law.  My
	reading of the NY Times squib is that they are simply bringing
	another form of intelligence-gathering under the rubric of the
	FISA, rather than just using it for electronic surveillance.

	Note:  I'm not saying I approve of the new action -- but it
	doesn't seem to be as big a departure from current practice as
	one might think.


			--Steve Bellovin