New law on FBI and credit records

[Shari Steele <ssteele@eff.org>]

Hi Peter.
Your post in alt.privacy was forwarded to me.  I don't know of any
legislation that will permit the FBI to obtain your credit report without a
search warrant.  While it is possible that such legislation exists, what
you describe from the NY Times article sounds an awful lot like a proposed
amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) introduced
this year that would allow the FBI access to *telephone calling data* with
a letter (rather than a search warrant) certifying that the person was
being investigated for engaging in terrorism or international espionage, or
cohorting with such folks.  The telephone calling data includes the names
and telephone numbers of all calls made from the phone number being
investigated, as well as the duration of the calls.  While this in itself
may be cause for alarm, it is not the same as FBI access to credit
reporting information.
Shari
******************************************************************************

Shari Steele
Director of Legal Services
Electronic Frontier Foundation
1001 G Street, NW
Suite 950 East
Washington, DC  20001
202/347-5400 (voice), 202/393-5509 (fax)
ssteele@eff.org