FBI Director Robert Meuller met with execs at Google and Facebook on a trip to Silicon Valley earlier this week, the New York Times reported. The subject at hand: making it easier to wiretap their users.
Meuller wants to expand a law passed in 1994, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, to include Internet companies.
According to the New York Times’ original story from September:
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
Facebook confirmed the visit. Google declined to comment.
In a statement, the ACLU said, “We remain very concerned that this proposal is a clear recipe for abuse and will make it that much easier for the government to gain access to our most personal information. Americans should not simply surrender their privacy and other fundamental values in the name of national security.”