EFF Cautions Against 'Sneak and Peek' Warrants
The Electronic Frontier Foundation criticized the government’s use of what it called “sneak and peek” warrants to access citizen’s information. Those warrants allow law enforcement “to conduct a search while delaying notice to the suspect of the search” based on…
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Section 213 of the Patriot Act, an authority the government demanded as part of its efforts to fight terrorism, EFF said in a Sunday blog post. “But the latest government report detailing the numbers of ‘sneak and peek’ warrants reveals that out of a total of over 11,000 sneak and peek requests, only 51 were used for terrorism,” EFF said. “Yet again, terrorism concerns appear to be trampling our civil liberties.” It argued that Section 213 is as important as Section 215, the much-discussed provision of the Patriot Act authorizing the bulk collection of phone records. “The government will continue to argue for more surveillance authorities -- like the need to update the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act -- under the guise of terrorism,” EFF said. “But before we engage in any updates, the public must be convinced such updates are needed and won't be used for non-terrorist purposes that chip away at our civil liberties.”