Atty. Gen. Eric Holder to Tighten Rules on Seizing Reporters' Data [View all]

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Source: Los Angeles Times

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder to tighten rules on seizing reporters' data

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder proposes new restrictions on government seizure of journalists' phone and email records in leak investigations.

By David G. Savage
July 12, 2013, 6:27 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. promised tough new restrictions Friday on the seizure of journalists' phone records and emails, backing off from the Obama administration's aggressive use of secret court orders to obtain news media records as part of investigations into leaks of government secrets.

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Pressure on the administration to change its policies mounted after Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, disclosed information about the government's widespread gathering of telephone and email records for use in counter-terrorism investigations.

Holder presented the proposed policy changes to Obama on Friday. Under the new rules, prosecutors in nearly all cases would be required to give news organizations advance notice before seeking records of contacts between reporters and their sources. That would give a news organization time to challenge the demand for records in court.

Moreover, the department would be forbidden from using search warrants to obtain records from reporters except in cases in which the reporter is the target of a criminal investigation not involving news gathering. That rule abandoned the practice used in the Fox News case of branding a journalist as a possible co-conspirator in the crime of espionage.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-holder-press-20130713,0,6615814.story