Powers of US government to snoop

A new law gives the US government extremely broad indirect powers to snoop on digital communications.

*House Republicans crafted language requiring any "service provider" with access to equipment "that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications" to help the government spy.

The language was so broad that almost anyone with a business who happened to have access to a hard drive could be forced to comply, critics have warned.

The government could force commercial landlords, for instance, to help it scoop up the communications of journalists, nonprofit groups, political campaigns, and lawyers, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology.*

Nominally this spying must be directed at foreigners, but when they are used they tend to spy on Americans too.

Of course, if you're the sort of person who carries a portable tracking and surveillance device various companies can snoop on you too.

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