If you thought that your web browsing history is private to you and you only, you would be mistaken. This is because during a recent vote, the US Senate has agreed to give law enforcement agencies access to web browsing history data without needing to obtain a warrant first.Given the massive privacy implications from this ruling, some senators had been fighting against it. For those who are unfamiliar, this vote was for an amendment to the Patriot Act, where they wanted to make changes so that it would have forbade the government to collect internet browsing data and history unless they had a warrant.
However, the votes for “Yes” to these changes fell short just by one as several senators were reported not to have shown up, where at least one of them would have voted in favor of these changes. According to Sen. Ron Wyden who sponsored the amendment, “Getting access to somebody’s web browsing history is almost like spying on their thoughts. This level of surveillance absolutely ought to require a warrant.”
Unfortunately with the amendment failing to get enough votes, it looks like the Patriot Act will remain as it is in its current form. Speaking to Motherboard, Evan Greer, the deputy director of Fight For The Future said, “The Patriot Act should be repealed in its entirety, set on fire and buried in the ground. It’s one of the worst laws passed in the last century, and there is zero evidence that the mass surveillance programs it enables have ever saved a single human life.”
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