WASHINGTON — As the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a federal data privacy bill last week, lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee were looking to plug a gap in the law that allows government agencies to conduct broad surveillance without obtaining warrants or subpoenas to do so.
The Fourth Amendment prohibits law enforcement agencies from conducting searches, seizures and surveillance on Americans without court-approved warrants or subpoenas. But the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and state and local law enforcement agencies are bypassing the restrictions by turning to commercial data brokers and database providers that collect vast quantities of data on Americans and using that to conduct surveillance.
Democrats and Republicans, for different reasons, want to prevent law enforcement agencies from snooping on Americans’ data.
