Hm, maybe someone could just check out the article (Sat Jul 17 NYT p. 7). This is a distinctly different interpretation. ===cut=here=== From: Shari Steele <ssteele@eff.org> Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1993 09:17:28 -0400 Subject: New law on FBI and credit records Hi Peter. Your post in alt.privacy was forwarded to me. I don't know of any legislation that will permit the FBI to obtain your credit report without a search warrant. While it is possible that such legislation exists, what you describe from the NY Times article sounds an awful lot like a proposed amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) introduced this year that would allow the FBI access to *telephone calling data* with a letter (rather than a search warrant) certifying that the person was being investigated for engaging in terrorism or international espionage, or cohorting with such folks. The telephone calling data includes the names and telephone numbers of all calls made from the phone number being investigated, as well as the duration of the calls. While this in itself may be cause for alarm, it is not the same as FBI access to credit reporting information. Shari ****************************************************************************** Shari Steele Director of Legal Services Electronic Frontier Foundation 1001 G Street, NW Suite 950 East Washington, DC 20001 202/347-5400 (voice), 202/393-5509 (fax) ssteele@eff.org ------- End of Forwarded Message