“They’re calling it a tweak — a ‘technical clarification’ — but make no mistake: The Obama administration and the FBI’s demand that Congress approve a huge expansion of their authority to obtain the sensitive Internet records of American citizens without a judge’s approval is a brazen attack on civil liberties. At issue is the scope of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s power to obtain information from ‘electronic communications service providers’ using National Security Letters (NLS), which compel private companies to allow government access to communication records without a court order. The administration wants to add four words — ‘electronic communication transactional records’ — to Section 2709 of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which spells out the types of communications data that can be obtained with an NSL.” (07/29/10)