White House hails bill reforming NSA

[JDPriestly]

6. They should have to get a warrant to review e-mails and internet posts which are posted under a

pseudonym or nom de plume or to review financial records. It isn't that time-consuming or difficult to get a warrant. But the warrant is a record that the personal records were legally obtained. That is important to prevent harassment or political vendettas or abuse of the government's authority to review personal records, correspondence and writings.

It really should not be an impediment to honest law enforcement. A warrant system could be established that did not take a lot of time or create too many problems. But each warrant application should be based on probable cause.

Metadata is just about as revealing as other data.

My husband tried Linked In tonight. Wow! Anyone who ever had their name on an e-mail address, anyone who belongs to an organization he belongs to and lots of people he never heard of are on his Linked-In page.

Here is something kind of humorous. My husband and I moved into our neighborhood years and years ago. Since then, a lot of gay and lesbian couples as well as young families have moved in. We corresponed via e-mail with many of our wonderful neighbors. If you looked at that list, you might think that our lifestyle might be very different than it is -- 50-year-married couple that we are. So, metadata can be very, very misleading. It's really a risky business to have a government relying on things like metadata to characterize citizens.