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Is the U.S. government spying on its citizens' e-mail and web surfing habits?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that defends civil liberties on the Internet, believes the answer is probably "yes". Earlier this month, the San Francisco-based watchdog filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. Department of Justice offices. It is seeking documents that would shed light on whether the government has been using the USA Patriot Act, which curtails some civil liberties as part of the "war on terror", to spy on Internet users and collect secret information about their on-line activity without a search warrant. "Although Internet users reasonably expect that their online reading habits are private, the (Justice Department) will not confirm whether it collects or believes itself authorised to collect URLs using pen-trap devices," said Kevin Bankston, an EFF attorney. Pen-traps collect information about the numbers dialed on a telephone but do not record the actual content of phone conversations. Because of this limitation, court orders authorising pen-trap surveillance are easy to get; instead of having to show probable cause, the government need only show relevance to its investigation. The government is not required to inform people that they are or were the subjects of pen-trap surveillance. The USA Patriot Act was hastily passed by Congress shortly after the attacks of Sep.11, 2001. Parts of it are due to expire this year and require re-authorisation by Congress. Under the act, the government can monitor an individual's web surfing records, use roving wiretaps to monitor phone calls made by individuals "proximate" to the primary person being tapped, access Internet Service Provider (ISP) records, and monitor the private records of people involved in legitimate protests. [more]