The FBI is in contact with Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others to open the discussion on wiretapping and gaining access to all of your material.
The draft of the new guidelines for tech companies allows the courts to distribute fines to any business that does not immediately comply for communications interceptions issued by the court.
The businesses would be fined upwards of $10,000, with 90 days to comply. After the 90 days, the fine doubles daily until the company has allowed the wiretap.
"Today, if you're a tech company that's created a new and popular way to communicate, it's only a matter of time before the FBI shows up with a court order to read or hear some conversation. If the data can help solve crimes, the government will be interested,” Michael Sussman, attorney and former federal prosecutor, said.
The White House has yet to act on these proposals.
In the past, when the FBI wanted consumer information, the company would say it was too difficult to retrieve the information due to technical issues.
This is something that the FBI would like to change.
"We don't have the ability to go to court and say, 'We need a court order to effectuate the intercept.' Other countries have that. Most people assume that's what you're getting when you go to a court,” the FBI’s general counsel Andrew Weissmann said.
It was reported just over a year ago that the FBI was meeting with such companies as Facebook and Google to discuss how to conduct surveillance with the least affecting disruptions to their service.
But of course, not everyone is so enthusiastic about the potential of a service like Gmail being spied on.
"Once you build a wiretap capability into products and services, the bad guys will find a way to use it,” Senior Staff Tecnologist for the Center for Democracy and Technology Joe Hall said.
